Ryan Holiday opens by presenting 'growth hacking' — a data-driven, experimentation-focused approach to rapid business growth — as displacing many traditional marketing assumptions that assume large advertising budgets are necessary for significant growth.

Why this displacement matters for modern business growth:

• Traditional marketing often assumed significant advertising budgets were necessary prerequisites for substantial audience growth and customer acquisition
• Growth hacking instead emphasizes creative, low-cost, data-driven experimentation to identify what specifically drives growth for a particular product or service
• This approach has enabled substantial growth for numerous companies without the large traditional marketing budgets previously assumed necessary

This opening establishes the book's core reframing, positioning growth hacking as a genuine alternative to traditional marketing budget assumptions for driving substantial business growth.