Physics of Growth

Understand your market, product, model, and channel constraints before optimizing

Crystal Widjaja
Consumer growth lessons from Gojek and Kumu

Physics of Growth

"You have to think about the physics of the current market, the product, the model and the channels that you're using... We were very careful about changing too many parameters and making too many bets on too many variables going our way." - Crystal Widjaja

What It Is

The Physics of Growth framework forces you to map the fundamental constraints and levers of your business before trying to optimize it. Just as physics describes the laws governing how objects move, your business has fixed "laws" that determine how growth can happen.

The framework recognizes that you can't change everything at once—most variables are fixed, and successful growth comes from understanding which levers you can actually pull within your existing constraints.

How It Works

Map your business across four dimensions:

1. Market

The customers and supply in your geographic and demographic context:

  • Who are your consumers?
  • Who is your supply side (if applicable)?
  • What are the cultural norms and expectations?

2. Product

The core value proposition and how it's delivered:

  • What does your product do?
  • How do users interact with it?
  • What jobs does it complete?

3. Model

How you make money and create value exchange:

  • What do you charge for?
  • When do you charge?
  • What's the value exchange between parties?

4. Channel

How you reach and communicate with users:

  • How do users discover you?
  • How do you communicate with them?
  • What physical or digital touchpoints exist?

How to Apply It

  1. Document your physics - Write down the current state of each dimension. Be specific and concrete.

  2. Identify underutilized levers - Look for elements within your physics that you haven't fully leveraged. Crystal's example: Gojek had drivers as an underutilized channel.

  3. Change one variable at a time - Resist the urge to change multiple dimensions simultaneously. Each change should fit within existing constraints.

  4. Validate before scaling - Test new lever usage with small experiments before committing resources.

When to Use It

  • When planning growth initiatives and need to prioritize
  • When evaluating new growth ideas to assess feasibility
  • When a growth experiment failed and you're diagnosing why
  • When joining a new company and need to understand growth dynamics

Example: Gojek GoPay

Crystal used this framework to drive GoPay (digital wallet) adoption:

  • Market: Indonesia, consumers and drivers
  • Product: Mobile app connecting drivers and consumers
  • Model: Per-transaction charges
  • Channel: Push notifications, Facebook ads... and physical drivers

The insight: Drivers were an underutilized channel. They created a service to message drivers when matched with customers who hadn't used GoPay, offering them incentives to pitch the digital wallet. This single lever change—without changing market, product, or model—drove 60% of GoPay acquisition.

Source

  • Guest: Crystal Widjaja
  • Episode: "Consumer growth lessons from Gojek and Kumu"
  • Key Discussion: (00:28:20) - Explaining the growth framework she developed with Reforge
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

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