--- title: Design your Startup's Flywheel description: Understand the customer’s decision making unit, map the customer acquisition process and design your flywheel to enable happy customers to drive growth. 📈 --- # Design your Startup's Flywheel ##### "For years, companies have structured their business strategies around the funnel — and it worked. But today, customer referrals and word-of-mouth have become the largest influence on the purchase process, which means the funnel has one major flaw: It views customers as an afterthought, not a driving force." - HubSpot Funnels produce customers but don’t consider how those customers can help you grow. The flywheel is a model that explains the momentum you gain when you align your entire organization around delivering a remarkable customer experience that produces happy customers who drive referrals and repeat sales. ![Flywheel Framework](https://www.bonbillo.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Flywheel%20Framework.png?width=500&height=363&name=Flywheel%20Framework.png "Flywheel Framework") Let’s design our repeatable customer acquisition process to win our target market. We will understand the customer’s decision making unit, map the customer’s current acquisition process and design our flywheel to enable happy customers to drive growth. 📈 ### Disciplined Entrepreneurship: Customer's Decision-Making Unit (DMU) and Buying Process --- ##### It's crucial to understand the customer's decision making unit (DMU) so that you can address the needs of the different people who impact the buying process. 🏌🏽‍♀️ For B2B businesses, the customer's decision-making unit typically includes the end user, champion, economic buyer, influencers, person with veto power and the purchasing department. Let's map the current process to acquire a paying customer to understand how the decision making unit (DMU) decides to buy a product and identify any challenges upfront. These may include elongated sales cycles, potential obstacles and points of friction. Play Video Determine the Customer's Decision-Making Unit John Breslin John Breslin, Senior Lecturer at National University of Ireland Galway, discusses ‘Determining the Customer’s Decision Making Unit’ with examples from ‘Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup by Bill Aulet.’ × Play Video Map the Process to Acquire a Paying Customer John Breslin John Breslin, Senior Lecturer at National University of Ireland Galway, discusses ‘Mapping the Process to Acquire a Paying Customer’ with examples from ‘Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup by Bill Aulet.’ × ### Design your Flywheel --- ##### Let's now apply HubSpot's FlyWheel Framework to design an experience to attract, engage and delight customers so that they fuel further growth. ☸️ ![HubSpot's FlyWheel Framework](https://www.bonbillo.com/hs-fs/hubfs/HubSpot%20FlyWheel%20Framework.jpeg?width=600&height=340&name=HubSpot%20FlyWheel%20Framework.jpeg "HubSpot's FlyWheel Framework") Here's an example flywheel from BonBillo alumni, [LULA](https://www.lulaloop.co.za/), a ride-sharing service that connects corporate commuters to private shuttles for an affordable, productive and sustainable commute in South Africa. LULA won Startup of the Year Africa 2019 at the Global Startup Awards! 🏆 ![LULA's FlyWheel](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/LULA%20-%20FlyWheel.jpeg "LULA's FlyWheel") Check out '[Why It's Time to Replace Your Funnel With a Flywheel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVNJ6Xa89TY)' by HubSpot and '[Grow Better By Moving From The Funnel To The Flywheel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QC2SHjBiag)' by Brian Halligan, Co-Founder and Executive Chairperson of HubSpot, at INBOUND18. ##### "How they sell is why they win" - Brian Halligan, Co-Founder and Executive Chairperson of HubSpot At Inbound 2019, Brian Halligan introduced Experience Disruptors as a new breed of growth leaders who get ahead by completely disrupting and reinventing the treatment we’ve come to expect as consumers. Brian listed 5 genetic adaptions that Experience Disruptors have in common. - Experience-Market fit such as Carvana's seamless experience buying a car online. 😎 - Friction-less flywheels such as Atlassian's approach to B2B sales with easy access to pricing and purchasing. ☸️ - Personalization such as that provided by Netflix, Spotify and Stitch Fix recommendations. 🤯 - Sell through your customers such as Glossier that encourages customers to create content about the products they buy. ✊🏼 - Business model busters such as Chewy that foregoes traditional product return methods with the aim of building brand ambassadors. 🎁 ## Recommended Books & Blogs [![Bill Aulet](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/41jCiw96BJL._SY498_BO1204203200_.jpg) Disciplined Entrepreneurship (Chapters: 12-13) Bill Aulet ](https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-Startup/dp/1118692284/) [![Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook (Chapters: 12-13)](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/disciplined-entrepreneurship-workbook-comp.jpg) Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook (Chapters: 12-13) Bill Aulet ](https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Workbook-Bill-Aulet/dp/1119365791/) [![Happy Customers Are the Biggest Marketing Opportunity of 2020](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/customer-hub-blog.jpg) Happy Customers Are the Biggest Marketing Opportunity of 2020 Kipp Bodnar ](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/happy-customers-marketing-opportunity) [![How the Flywheel Killed HubSpot's Funnel](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/Flywheel1.jpeg) How the Flywheel Killed HubSpot's Funnel Jon Dick ](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/our-flywheel) [![Flywheel1](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/Flywheel1.jpeg) Growing Your Business With a Flywheel Model HubSpot Academy ](https://academy.hubspot.com/lessons/flywheel) [![experience-disruption](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/experience-disruption.jpg) Experience Disruptors: A New Breed of Growth Leaders Brian Halligan ](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/experience-disruptors-a-new-breed-of-growth-leaders) [![HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan on experience disruptors and why they win](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/marcusAndrew.jpg) HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan on experience disruptors and why they win Bryan Arnott ](https://www.256content.com/blog/hubspot-ceo-brian-halligan-on-experience-disruptors-and-why-they-win) [![drift](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/drift.jpg) Introducing the Conversational Framework: A New Way to Move People Through Your Funnel Mark Kilens ](https://www.drift.com/blog/introducing-the-conversational-framework/) [![marketing-chatbot-examples](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/marketing-chatbot-examples.jpeg) 9 innovative chatbot examples from top brands [+ how to build your own] Eric Siu ](https://www.impactplus.com/blog/marketing-chatbot-examples) [![chatbots](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/chatbots.jpg) Really good chat bots by Drift The Drift Team ](https://www.drift.com/chatbot-examples/) [![conversational marketing](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/conversational_marketing.jpg) Conversational Marketing: How the World's Fastest Growing Companies Use Chatbots to Generate Leads 24/7/365 (and How You Can Too) David Cancel, Dave Gerhardt ](https://www.amazon.com/Conversational-Marketing-Companies-Chatbots-Generate/dp/1119541832) [![hacking growth](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/hacking_growth.jpg) Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success Sean Ellis, Morgan Brown ](https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Growth-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Breakout/dp/045149721X) [![influence](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/influence.jpg) Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert B. Cialdini ](https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X) [![Crossing the Chasm](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/crossing-the-chasm.jpg) Crossing the Chasm Geoffrey A. Moore, Regis McKenna ](https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-Marketing-High-Tech-Mainstream/dp/0060517123) [![Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies](https://www.bonbillo.com/hubfs/BonBillo_September2021/Images/blitzscaling.jpg) Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies Reid Hoffman, Chris Yeh, Bill Gates ](https://www.amazon.com/Blitzscaling-Lightning-Fast-Building-Massively-Companies/dp/1524761419) ## [VerroBot Topics](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/?hsLang=en) [Identify your Startup Stage and Set Goals](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/identify-startup-stage-and-set-goals/?hsLang=en) [Build your Startup Team](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/build-startup-team/?hsLang=en) [Identify your Startup's Target Market](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/identify-startup-target-market/?hsLang=en) [Sprint to Design Solutions](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/sprint-design-solutions/?hsLang=en) [Define your Startup's Value Proposition](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/startup-value-proposition/?hsLang=en) [Design your Startup's Flywheel](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/design-startup-flywheel/) [Design your Startup's Business Model](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/startup-business-model/?hsLang=en) [Define your Startup's Social Impact](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/startup-social-impact/?hsLang=en) [Design your Product](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/design-product/?hsLang=en) [Design your Startup Pitch Deck](https://www.bonbillo.com/verrobot/design-startup-pitch-deck/?hsLang=en)