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Laurens Jansen explains how Polarsteps balances product-led growth with performance marketing, why authentic UGC matters more than scale, and how seasonality shapes growth priorities in modern consumer apps.
Growth today is rarely about choosing between organic and paid, or product and performance. Instead, it’s about finding the right balance at the right moment.
For consumer apps especially, long-term acceleration comes from building a product people genuinely love, while applying growth levers that feel authentic rather than engineered.
That balance becomes even more critical as audiences grow more sceptical of overly polished marketing and expect brands to show up with real stories, real users, and real value.
“I would say organic content production for your brand and really making engaging, really good quality content is a growth lever. As a company, you should invest more money into it because it is something that has been utilised a lot by influencers and creators… Making really nice and organic entertainment content is something more applicable to the younger audience nowadays and should be one of the more focused areas for 2026,” says Laurens Jansen, Head of Growth, Polarsteps.
His perspective highlights a modern approach to growth, where authenticity, product quality, and timing matter more than chasing short-term optimisation metrics.
Top Insights from Laurens Jansen:
1. Product quality fuels organic and paid growth together
Sustainable growth happens when a strong product naturally supports acquisition. Organic traction accelerates paid performance, while growth experiments amplify what already works, making product-led momentum more powerful than treating organic and paid as separate strategies.
2. Authentic UGC outperforms volume-driven content
UGC works best when it reflects real users, not scripted performances. While harder to manage, creator content sourced from genuine app users builds trust, strengthens brand identity, and delivers more meaningful results than high-volume, off-brand production.
3. Growth priorities must shift with seasonality and maturity
There’s no universal framework for balancing growth features and core product development. Teams must adapt focus based on seasonality, feature maturity, and business cycles, keeping growth and product teams aligned through constant collaboration.
Watch the full interview here.
