Engineering product features that drive organic user-to-user growth
Viral mechanics are product features and incentives designed to encourage users to invite others, creating exponential growth. The viral coefficient (K-factor) measures how many new users each existing user brings. When K > 1, growth becomes self-sustaining. Understanding viral mechanics includes invitation flows, referral programs, social sharing, network effects, and product virality (where the product naturally requires inviting others, like Slack or Zoom).