Growth Loops and Ageing Loops: What Growth Product Managers can Learn from Winemaking
Discover how winemaking reveals powerful lessons for growth product managers — from iteration and ageing loops to blending art with data for long-term success.
Recently, in our Boston Consulting Group’s DTCM program, we dove into modular technologies and how to manage them. Somehow, that got me thinking (or daydreaming!) about how winemakers experimented with their own “modules”, grapes, to produce legendary blends like Bordeaux.
My inner entrepreneur couldn’t resist, so in our latest wine podcast, I tried my hand at being a DIY Bordeaux winemaker. Spoiler: my blend won’t be replacing Château Margaux anytime soon, but the exercise reminded me of something bigger.
Just like Bordeaux is a story of trial-and-error across centuries, product-led growth is built on loops of iteration, testing, and refinement. Grapes become juice, juice becomes wine — and then the real work begins: experimenting, tasting, adjusting, blending. It’s not so different from how we launch, measure, and optimise features in the world of growth.
Here’s the punchline: growth product managers can learn a surprising amount from winemakers.
How to embrace iteration, instead of chasing the one perfect launch.
How to respect the passage of time through “ageing loops” that compound value.
And how to balance art (intuition) with science (data) to create something truly remarkable.
Because whether you’re filling a barrel or a backlog, the loop is where the magic happens.
1. Iteration is the Real Work (Beyond the Harvest/Funnel)
Too many product managers treat launch day like harvest day: all hands on deck, champagne corks, dashboards refreshing by the minute.
But here’s the trap. Acquisition is just the harvest. The real magic happens after the grapes are picked and the product is shipped.
In winemaking, grapes don’t magically become a fine Bordeaux the moment they’re crushed. They go through fermentation, then months (sometimes years) of decisions: Which yeast strain? Oak or steel? How much Cabernet versus Merlot? Every choice is an iteration, every blend a hypothesis.
Products are no different. Retention, engagement, and monetisation are your yeast, barrels, and blends. Launching is just the start; it’s the loops of tinkering, testing, and refining that turn a raw product into something people love. The best PMs, like the best winemakers, know that what you do after the harvest is what defines greatness.
To find out more about Growth Loops, Network Effects and Viral Equations, read here: https://tinyurl.com/bdekju78
2. Ageing Loops (Why Time is a Feature, Not a Bug)
Some wines simply can’t be rushed. Open a young Barolo too early, and you’ll taste tannins that grip your gums like sandpaper. Give it ten years, and you’ll find complexity, elegance, and balance. Ageing itself is a loop: taste, wait, adjust expectations.
Growth loops work the same way. Not all experiments pay off in a sprint. Compounding retention, network effects, and subscription models take time to reveal their strength. Amazon Prime didn’t look like a rocket ship on day one, it was a slow burn, looping value over the years until it became an indispensable moat. Contrast that with hyper-casual mobile games: fast loops, quick hits, then onto the next iteration.
The lesson is simple but hard to practice: growth requires patience. Know when to accelerate, and when to let the loop breathe. Impatience kills both wines and products. Sometimes, the bravest decision is to wait.
3. Experimentation as a Culture (The Winery & The Team)
Step into a serious winery, and you’ll notice something: constant experimentation. Micro-fermentations, barrel trials, blending sessions across vintages. Winemakers don’t rely on one harvest to define them; they bet on a portfolio of experiments, knowing most won’t make the cut.
The best growth teams mirror this mindset. Instead of pinning their hopes on a single feature launch, they embed experimentation across acquisition, onboarding, retention, and monetisation. Every loop is a chance to learn, every failure a data point.
Great wineries don’t put all their faith in one vintage. Great product teams don’t hinge their future on one roadmap bet. Both succeed because they’ve made experimentation their culture, their identity, their competitive advantage.
Final Thoughts
Winemaking and growth share a simple truth: both reward those who refuse to settle for “good enough.” The harvest, or the product launch, is just step one. The real magic happens after, in loops of iteration, blending, ageing, and refinement.
Growth Product Managers aren’t just grape pickers chasing the next harvest (or feature release). They’re winemakers. And the best wines, like the best products, are the result of testing, ageing, iterating, and refining over time until they become something unforgettable.
So here’s the call to action: next time you’re sipping a Bordeaux or Rioja, remember that complexity in your glass didn’t happen by accident. It’s a growth loop in liquid form. The only question left is: what loops are you running today?
And if you’re curious how my own DIY Bordeaux experiment turned out, check out our latest wine podcast here:
Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe because just like wine, ideas get better when they’re shared.