Its not what you know, it's who you know. Ever heard that one before? I'm pretty sure you've heard it a million times. We'll even bet that you're probably a tad sick of hearing such apocryphal statements. But we're not here to regurgitate lame MBA-speak. We're here to set you on the path to startup victory - fame, fortune and glory included.

So, here's our version of the truth: with growth hacking, it's not about who you know, but who your customers know. In a nutshell, that's how hyper-growth happens. That's where the mythical viral loop starts magically hi-jacking your campaigns and spreading them far and wide across the internet. That's how you end up on Oprah. Cool, huh?

But we're not your mom and we won't sugarcoat this saying that achieving virality and getting referrals is easy. If it were, even that Facebook rip-off for siamese twins would be a billion-dollar company by now. But it's not. In fact, if you're the guy who tried launching that monstrosity then stop reading this guide right now. And leave the class please...

For the rest of you, venture forth to discover how you can use the virtual grapevine to your startup's advantage. If there was such a thing as growth hacking gold, this is it.