Why startups fail: measuring the wrong things

Why Your Best Growth Strategy Might Be Boring? While everyone's chasing the next marketing hack or growth trend, the companies quietly winning are doing something unsexy: they're solving customer problems really, really well. I see this pattern everywhere. Startups spend months perfecting their viral marketing strategy while their customer support response time is 3 days. They build sophisticated referral programs while basic user onboarding is broken. Meanwhile, their boring competitors are answering support tickets in 20 minutes and making sure new users succeed on day one. Guess which approach generates more word-of-mouth marketing? The best growth strategy I know is this: Make your existing customers so happy they can't help but tell other people about you. This means fixing the basic stuff first. It means saying no to flashy campaigns until your fundamentals are rock solid. It means measuring customer satisfaction as closely as you measure conversion rates. It's not exciting. It won't get you featured in growth hacking articles. But it works. What's one "boring" improvement that dramatically helped your business grow? #GrowthStrategy #CustomerExperience #BusinessDevelopment #StartupGrowth #TechBusiness

£100𝐌 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝. 13-14% 𝐌𝐨𝐌 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 8 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬. £0 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝. Our founder & CEO Varun Aggarwal shared a milestone this week that demonstrates what capital-efficient growth looks like in consumer fintech. Know Your Dosh has crossed £100 million in assets tracked, with consistent 13-14% month-on-month user growth over eight months, entirely organic. We've proven product-market fit across 50+ countries without spending on marketing. Now we're positioned to scale strategically with significantly better unit economics than typical fintech companies. #Fintech #StartupGrowth #CapitalEfficiency #ProductMarketFit

"I see too many founders 'guessing' their way to #bankruptcy. They're burning cash on marketing campaigns, and when you ask them, 'Which ones are actually making you money?'... they have no idea. This is an "acute, urgent pain point". It's an attribution problem. And it's how founders "guess" their way to failure. I spent the last week analyzing this and wrote a detailed guide on how to stop guessing and start knowing. It's the playbook for how to "double down on what works and cut what doesn't" . Here are the 3 key takeaways: 🎯 1. Stop Tracking Clicks, Start Tracking Revenue. Your CTR is a vanity metric. The only thing that matters is "automated revenue attribution"—connecting your marketing spend directly to sales data in real-time. 📊 2. Your "Analytics" Are Lying to You. Most dashboards show you what happened, not why. You need to "Stop guessing" and see "exactly which marketing campaigns are making you money in under 60 seconds". 💰 3. Cut Your CAC by 30%. This isn't a fantasy. It's the result of shifting your budget from campaigns that feel right to campaigns that prove their ROI. Thought this community would find it useful. The full guide is in the first comment. What's the biggest challenge you face with marketing attribution right now? Happy to answer any questions. #Marketing #SaaS #ECommerce #Startup #DataDriven #StopGuessing

Your SaaS launch was successful. The real question? What happens next. Most founders celebrate, then watch momentum die. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿: • 💬 Lasting businesses treat launch as data, not victory • 📈 They turn insights into systematic growth engines • 🔁 They build feedback loops that compound over time 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂: → Market validation for specific use cases → Clear data on your highest-value customer segments → Proven channels that drive engaged users Smart founders don't chase the next shiny marketing tactic. They systematize what worked. Growth is better when it's systematic - and that's how you turn launch insights into sustainable momentum.

What I Learned Building Growth Engines for Marketplaces Before I stepped back from LinkedIn, I spent years working with marketplace founders—platforms connecting buyers and sellers, service providers and customers, creators and audiences. Marketplaces are fascinating because they have a chicken-and-egg problem baked in: - You need buyers to attract sellers - You need sellers to attract buyers - And you need both sides to create the network effects that make the platform valuable Here's what I learned: 1. Growth engines need clarity before they need scale. Most founders want to "scale what's working." But if the fundamentals aren't clear—who you serve, what problem you solve, why they should choose you—you end up scaling confusion, not growth. 2. Traction isn't always about doing more. Sometimes the fastest path to momentum is removing friction—simplifying your offer, tightening your messaging, or focusing on one side of the marketplace first instead of trying to grow both at once. 3. Strategy alone isn't always the bottleneck. I worked with brilliant founders who had solid strategies but struggled to execute. The issue wasn't "what to do"—it was the internal resistance, overwhelm, or perfectionism that kept them stuck. Then I stumbled across this little thing called subconscious programming, work against us without us even being aware of it. It turns out, when we learn to identify the subconscious blocks, and then start to rewire our subconscious programming... everything can change very quickly. These days, I help entrepreneurs on both levels: • Strategy – Growth engines, funnel optimisation, marketing efficiency (now in partnership with a digital growth agency.) • Subconscious – Releasing blocks, stress, and self-sabotage patterns Because sustainable growth needs both: clear strategy and internal alignment. #growth #marketplaces #tech #mindset #traction #marketing #growthhacking #thoughtleaders #forpurpose

Patience isn’t just a virtue, it’s a growth strategy. Early in my career, I worked with a startup eager to scale. They wanted results yesterday, more downloads, more leads, more sales. We ran campaigns, optimized pages, and pushed aggressively for growth. The problem? Short-term wins didn’t stick. Some campaigns spiked conversions for a day or two, but nothing sustainable. We shifted approach: • Focused on consistent improvements instead of instant wins. • Monitored user behavior over weeks, not hours. • Optimized based on patterns, not guesses. After a few months, growth became predictable, compounding, and sustainable. Patience allowed insights to emerge, strategies to stabilize, and real ROI to show. 💡 Digital growth isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. Small, consistent steps beat flashy, quick fixes every time. #DigitalMarketing #GrowthMindset #MarketingStrategy #PerformanceMarketing #DataDriven #UXDesign #BusinessGrowth #OnlineMarketing #ROI #Strategy

Your Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy is Dynamic, Not Static. Many founders mistakenly view their Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy as a rigid plan. However, if you haven't yet achieved Product-Market Fit (PMF), your GTM should serve as a hypothesis-testing framework for your entire business. If you're not observing the expected retention and organic demand, it's crucial to pivot your GTM approach, not just your product. Here are three key adjustments to consider when your GTM falls short of delivering PMF: 1. Refine Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Initially defining your product's target audience may have been overly broad. It's essential to narrow down your focus significantly. - Pivot: Instead of pursuing "small to mid-sized businesses," shift your target to "Series A FinTech startups with 10-50 employees utilizing HubSpot." - Why: A more precise focus enables you to provide a tailored, high-value solution for a specific niche, cultivating initial loyal "power users" and fostering strong Word-of-Mouth recommendations. 2. Revamp Your Positioning & Messaging Customers are more interested in the problems you solve than the features you offer. If your messaging revolves around the product, you're at a disadvantage from the start. - Pivot: Transition your core message from "We provide an AI-powered CRM" to "We reduce your sales team's data entry time by 40%, accelerating deal closures." - Why: Your positioning determines your competitive category, while messaging conveys the value proposition. Aligning these with a genuine customer pain point is a significant step towards achieving PMF. 3. Explore New Acquisition Channels & Pricing Strategies If your target audience isn't engaging through your current channels, it's a GTM failure, not a product failure. The same applies to pricing, a crucial aspect of your value proposition. - Pivot: Experiment with a Product-Led Growth (PLG) model featuring a #ProductMarketFit #GTMStrategy #StartupLife #GrowthHacking #ProductManagement #Founders

Ever feel like you’re putting out content but not building real customer relationships? Our team at EGB Digital Services sees this challenge every day. So many entrepreneurs, startups, and growth-focused SMBs are busy posting online—yet wonder why customers aren’t sticking around. The missing piece? A sustainable digital ecosystem that goes beyond likes and short-term wins. When we help clients, we start with three core steps: 1️⃣ Map your customer journey to make sure content aligns with real needs at every stage (not just the sale!). 2️⃣ Integrate AI and automation, so you nurture leads and stay top-of-mind with less manual work. 3️⃣ Optimize your brand presence—consistency across channels turns one-time buyers into loyal fans. One client recently transformed their engagement from quick, one-off comments to an active community—just by aligning messaging and automating follow-up. The result? Repeat customers and organic referrals. Curious about building loyalty, not just leads, through your content? Drop your biggest challenge in the comments—or DM me if you’d like a personal walkthrough of our approach. Let’s help your brand stand out AND stay memorable. #DigitalStrategy #CustomerLoyalty #SMBMarketing #BusinessGrowth

Winning businesses won’t be the ones with the best products. They’ll be the ones with the clearest systems. After advising 1,700+ businesses, I’ve seen a consistent pattern: The businesses that scale with confidence are those that: ✅ Understand their customer deeply ✅ Build a clear value proposition ✅ Nail their positioning & messaging ✅ Execute with copy and campaigns that actually convert Most founders jump to ads, social media, or AI tools… But ignore the 4 layers that truly drive growth (see image below). ⸻ Here’s what will separate winners from the rest in 2026: 🧩 Mapped Business Models Know where value is created, delivered, and captured. 💰 Revenue Driver Analysis Not all revenue is equal. Know what scales and what drains. 💸 Cost Structures Cut waste, not growth levers. 👤 Customer Segments & Behavior One segment always subsidizes the others—know which. 📌 Competitive Positioning Understand your overlap, gaps, and defendability. 🚨 Risk Assessment Good founders ask, “What could destroy us?” Great ones prepare for it. 📈 KPIs That Actually Predict LTV, CAC, Retention, Cash Cycle—track them like your life depends on it. 🧰 Strategic Levers Every business has at least one hidden growth lever. Find it. Pull it. ⸻ Curious to apply these layers to your startup, service, or product? #BusinessStrategy #StartupGrowth #Marketing2026 #FounderTips #ScalingSmart #AIinBusiness #CustomerFirst #MarketingLayers #BusinessModelCanvas

Why I hate Young Startup Founders? For Startups, let’s talk marketing reality.🫵🏻 Too many new businesses dive into marketing without understanding what it actually entails. They chase “certified experts,” and expect unrealistic miracles—without patience and often without a clue. Marketing isn’t decoration — it’s direction. Respect it or risk watching your business stall while competitors sprint ahead. Someone asked me — what Performance Marketing is, I didn't have answers that are written on web cause I know marketing well. I thought at the time, Performance Marketing Really!! Do you even know what the term actually holds? In today’s data-driven world, performance marketing is often misunderstood as “only paying for certain conversions.” But that’s just one piece of the puzzle. Performance marketing is about accountability and optimization. It focuses on measurable KPIs—like ROAS, CAC, and lead quality—not just clicks. While some models (like affiliate or CPA) may tie spend directly to conversions, performance marketing as a whole is broader. It’s about using real-time data to continuously refine campaigns, ensuring every action contributes to business growth. It’s not just about paying for results. It’s about building a repeatable, scalable engine that drives value. Let’s stop thinking of it as a tactic—and start seeing it as a mindset. #PerformanceMarketing #DigitalMarketing #MarketingStrategy #GrowthMarketing #KPIDriven #MarketingMindset