Why the Growth Playbook Is Changing

Over the past year, one theme keeps coming up in conversations across our community:

The growth playbook is changing.

Acquisition is more expensive.
Monetization is under greater scrutiny.
AI is no longer optional — especially when it comes to personalization.

And scale alone does not solve what it used to solve.

Instead of offering predictions, I invited a group of senior leaders I respect to share how they are recalibrating strategy in real time — across user acquisition, monetization, AI and performance.

That is the foundation of this new series:

Growth Signals: The Industry Shift

As we began these conversations, a few patterns stood out immediately:

• Value per user is becoming more important than raw install volume.
• Monetization design is shaping acquisition strategy, not following it.
• Incrementality is replacing vanity metrics as the measure of real growth.
• AI is advancing personalization — but only when paired with strong data architecture and disciplined decision-making.

These are not incremental adjustments.

They reflect a broader shift in how growth is defined and executed across the mobile ecosystem.

Parts of the old playbook simply do not hold the way they once did.

Over the next several weeks, we will explore:

– The end of volume-driven growth
– Why CPI alone is no longer enough
– How retention and monetization redefine ROI
– Where AI meaningfully improves outcomes
– What skills growth leaders need now
– Where opportunity may still be underestimated

Mobile growth is moving from expansion to precision.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll continue this conversation with perspectives from leaders navigating these shifts in real time.

If these topics matter to you, I invite you to follow along.

Our goal is simple: to surface grounded insights that help you think more clearly about where growth is moving — and how to adapt with precision.