What’s Your Growth Strategy Really Missing?

When founders talk about their “growth strategy,” they usually focus on markets, customers, product innovation, or fundraising. All crucial, yes. But when I dig deeper, I often find that important pieces of the puzzle are missing.

Scaling a business is like building a complex machine: every cog, wire, and bolt matters. If one part is weak or missing entirely, the whole system struggles to run smoothly. Blind spots creep in. Performance stutters. The business feels harder to drive than it should.

Having supported hundreds of scale-ups across many sectors and verticals, I’ve seen just about every configuration of this machine - from engines firing on all cylinders, to beautiful designs with critical parts missing. The challenge for founders is having their eyes opened to what’s not working, so they can strengthen the whole picture.

So, what’s your growth strategy really missing? Here are the blind spots I most often see.

1. A Clear and Compelling Vision

Your north star isn’t just a statement on a wall. Without a vision that’s both commercially ambitious and emotionally inspiring, the machine stalls. Vision keeps the whole system aligned and moving forward.

2. Culture as a Growth Engine

Culture is the oil that keeps the cogs turning. If it’s not defined and reinforced, friction builds up fast. Left unchecked, culture can erode just when you need it to power growth.

3. Pricing and Positioning Power

If your machine is well-built but you’re fuelling it with the wrong fuel, it won’t go far. Pricing and positioning are that fuel. Underpricing or underselling creates strain without reward.

4. Leadership Structure That Matches Your Stage

Every scaling machine needs a skilled operator for each part. If your leadership structure isn’t designed for this stage, roles blur, accountability weakens, and energy is wasted.

5. Talent and Performance Management

Hiring more people isn’t the same as strengthening the engine. You need the right people in the right places, with performance monitored and supported, otherwise the system overheats.

6. Building for Long-Term Value

A machine that only runs short distances won’t win the race. Are you designing for durability with brand equity, customer loyalty, IP, and strategic positioning... or just chasing the next revenue milestone?

7. Financial Clarity

This is the dashboard of your machine. Without the right dials - unit economics, margins, runway, scenarios - you’re driving blind, hoping you’ll get to your destination.

8. A Strategy That Connects the Dots

The real power of a growth strategy comes when every part of the puzzle is connected. Vision, culture, leadership, pricing, talent, finance, and value creation don’t sit in isolation. They work as one integrated system. Miss a piece, and you’ll feel the strain.

Final thought

Scaling is about building a machine that runs smoothly, efficiently, and powerfully. The challenge is seeing which parts of the puzzle are missing and strengthening them before they cause a breakdown.

That’s where an outside perspective helps. I bring the experience of working with hundreds of scale-ups to help founders diagnose blind spots, solve problems, and build the whole picture.

So, what’s missing from your growth strategy? If you’re ready to find out, let’s talk: