Growth strategy
Where the next dollar of effort should go, and what to stop doing.
Growth as a sequence, not a buffet
Most businesses don't lack ideas for growth, they lack a sequence. Our growth work focuses on identifying the constraint that's actually holding the business back, the moves that loosen it, and the metrics that tell you whether they're working.
How we approach growth
Diagnostic
We pull apart the funnel: where customers come from, where they convert, where they churn, and what each cohort is actually worth.
- Acquisition and channel diagnostic
- Conversion and activation review
- Retention and cohort analysis
- Unit economics and payback
Constraint identification
Growth is usually constrained by one or two things at a time. We name the constraint and the experiments most likely to move it.
- Quantitative constraint mapping
- Qualitative validation through interviews
- Experiment backlog with expected impact
Channel and model expansion
When the current model is healthy, we look at adjacencies: new channels, new segments, new packaging, new partnerships.
- New channel viability tests
- Pricing and packaging experiments
- Partnership and bundle exploration
Retention and expansion
For most businesses, the cheapest growth is from existing customers. Retention, cross-sell, and expansion deserve the same rigor as acquisition.
- Activation and onboarding redesign
- Cross-sell and upgrade paths
- Churn root-cause analysis
What we mean by growth strategy
Growth strategy is the work of figuring out where the next leg of growth for the business will come from, and what investments and capabilities the business needs to make that growth real. It is distinct from a marketing plan and distinct from a product strategy. Done well, it produces a small number of clearly articulated growth bets with the reasoning behind them, the investments each requires, the metrics that will tell you whether each is working, and the sequencing that makes the overall plan coherent. Done poorly, it produces a long list of initiatives with no obvious priority and no clear mechanism for deciding which to fund first.
How we approach growth-strategy engagements
Our growth-strategy engagements start with a structured review of the current growth picture and proceed to a structured generation and evaluation of growth bets across categories: deeper penetration of existing customers, expansion into adjacent customer segments, expansion into adjacent geographies, new product or service lines, new channels and partnerships, and pricing and packaging changes. Each bet is sized for revenue impact, costed for required investment, and stress-tested against the realistic execution capacity of the team. The output is a written strategy with three to five prioritized bets, the metrics that will tell you whether each is working, and a quarterly review cadence to revisit the plan as the data comes in.
The honest version of growth work
Most growth work that succeeds is unglamorous. It looks like: a careful audit of where the funnel actually leaks; a few experiments testing the highest leverage interventions; clear measurement of what worked and what didn't; and a willingness to stop doing things the team is attached to but the data doesn't support. It rarely involves a new growth playbook discovered at a conference.
The growth work that fails tends to look like the opposite. It chases tactics other companies are talking about, scales experiments before they've shown signal, ignores the constraints the data is pointing at, and rewards activity over learning. We try to keep growth engagements honest, including being honest when the constraint is something other than marketing (often it's product, pricing, or operations) and the right next investment isn't ours to deliver.
Common questions
Do you guarantee growth numbers?
No serious advisor would. We commit to the diagnostic quality and to running the experiments rigorously.
Can you implement the experiments?
Yes, our marketing, web, and content teams can execute the plan, or we can hand off to your in house team.
Stuck on a growth plateau?
Tell us what's not working, we'll be honest about whether we can help.
Start a conversation