GROWTH DIAGNOSTIC
Every scale-up hits the same two walls. Most don't know which one they're hitting.
Scale-ups hit two distinct walls on the road to enduring growth. The OSER Growth Diagnostic tells you which one you're approaching and what to do before it costs you.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
Different problems.
Different fixes.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
Scaling from £3m to £10m looks nothing like scaling from £10m to £50m+. The channels, the team, the brand strategy, the investment priorities, they all shift.
Most scale-ups apply the same playbook to both. That's where growth stalls. The OSER Growth Diagnostic identifies exactly where you are on the journey and what the inflection point ahead demands of your business.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
WALL 1
Performance Plateau
You've built performance channels that work. But performance channels can only reach the 5% of people who are in-market right now. Once you've exhausted that pool, CAC rises, ROAS falls, and new customer acquisition stalls.
The mistake is spending more on the same channels. You're fishing in a pool you've already emptied. The fix is brand that reaches and primes the 95% who aren't in-market yet, so future demand is waiting when they are ready.
SYMPTOMS
CAC Rising
New customers declining
Lack of brand consistency
FERRY CO EXAMPLE
You've reached everyone actively searching for ferries. The pool is empty. Growth stops. The 95% who've never considered a ferry have no idea your brand exists.
HOW OSER HELPS
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Early brand & comms strategy - define your source of growth and how to reach beyond the in-market 5%
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Distinctive brand assets - build memory cues that make you instantly recognisable as you scale spend
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Category entry point analysis - map the triggers that bring out-of-market buyers in
ROAS decreasing
Over-reliance on perfromance channels
Strategy not aligned to growth phase
Ad fatigue setting in
WALL 2
Category Ceiling
You've broken through the performance plateau, you're investing in brand and reaching out-of-market buyers. But growth still stalls. Why? Because your audience is still too narrowly defined.
Brand advertising that only reaches current category buyers is just performance marketing with a bigger budget. The unlock is identifying the broader growth audience - the people who could choose you, in situations they don't yet associate with your category.
SYMPTOMS
Audience too small & highly competitive
Brand unclear at scale
New customer acquisition stalling
FERRY CO EXAMPLE
You're reaching all past and future ferry buyers, but not the millions who travel by plane or train and have never considered a ferry. That's the growth audience. That's the opportunity.
HOW OSER HELPS
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Growth mapping - identify the broadest addressable audience and the brand positioning to unlock it
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Category entry point analysis - expand into new situations, occasions and audiences
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Full brand & comms strategy - board-ready architecture for compounding long-term growth
Competitive noise drowning out messaging
CAC continuing to rise
Sales cycles lengthening
Evidence base: 95:5 rule — LinkedIn B2B Institute / Binet & Field
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
THE OSER SCALEUP JOURNEY
The inflection points that define growth.
Growth dynamics, investment priorities and the strategic challenges facing your business change fundamentally between phases. The brands that make it past £50m are the ones that understand which wall they're approaching and act before they hit it.
The two walls can appear at any stage. A £5m brand and a £50m brand can be hitting the same problem; the difference is the budget and team available to fix it.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
WHAT IS THE GROWTH DIAGNOSITC?
A structured diagnostic that names the wall you're approaching.
We combine category research, performance signal analysis and a 75-minute expert session with Diego Chicharro and Laura Derbyshire. The output tells you precisely which wall you're approaching and the strategic priorities to act on before you hit it.
SECTION 1
Performance Health
Are you approaching the performance plateau or already in it? CAC trajectory, ROAS trend, channel concentration, brand vs performance split.
SECTION 2
Category Health
Is your category growing or declining? Is your audience definition broad enough? What buying occasions could you own that you currently don't?
USE AI TO AMPLIFY
Once the brand story is right and the strategy is set: AI executes it at speed. Personalisation, testing, optimisation. AI turns a strong strategy into compound growth.
DIFFERENTIATE WITH INTENTION
Not quirky for quirky's sake. Distinctiveness that is grounded in category insight, customer truth and commercial ambition, built to scale.
DIFFERENTIATE WITH INTENTION
Diagnose what's holding growth back. Align the team. Find quick wins while the longer-term work is built.
CRITICAL
Plateau is imminent or already in happening
WATCH
Early warning signs visible. Intervention now is significantly cheaper than later.
HEALTHY
Momentum is strong and runway is clear. Strategic review to maintain trajectory.
AT RISK
Growth constraints are structural. Action needed before the next phase stalls.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
WHO IS IT FOR?
Built for founders, investors & leadership teams at every stage
FOUNDER / CEO
Scale-up founders at any phase
CAC rising. New customer growth is slowing. Growth is not responding to spending. The diagnostic tells you whether this is a performance problem, a category problem, or both and what to do in the right order.
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Pre Series B planning
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Transitioning from performance to brand
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Preparing for board or investor review
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Before a significant media investment
PE / VC INVESTOR
Portfolio Diagnostic
An independent, data-backed read on growth health across your portfolio before the next round, not after the plateau has already cost you.
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Pre-investment commercial due diligence
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Portfolio health check before next round
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Identifying which companies need intervention
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Ongoing portfolio monitoring
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Commercial leaders
You know the numbers. You have a sense that something is off. The diagnostic gives you the independent evidence to make the case for strategic change with the board, with investors, with the founder.
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Building the case for brand investment
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Challenging performance over-reliance
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Preparing for a board strategy review
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Category strategy and audience expansion
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
HOW IT WORKS
Four steps.
Seven days.
01
FREE
Growth snapshot call
A no-obligation 30-minute call. We identify which phase you're in, which wall you're approaching, and whether the diagnostic is right for you. If it isn't, we'll tell you.
02
48 HRS
Data & research
OSER.AI researches your category growth trajectory, competitive density, adjacent audience opportunities. You provide key performance signals (ROAS trend, CAC trend, channel mix).
03
75 MINS
Expert interiew
Diego and Laura run a structured session. We go deeper on what the data shows, explore the strategic context, and surface what isn't visible in the numbers.
04
7 DAYS
Diagnostic delivered
Your full report: which walls you're approaching, severity, and the strategic priorities ordered by urgency — written for you and your board, not for a committee.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
PRICING
One product.
Two ways to work with us.
Fixed price. Senior-led. Delivered in 7-10 days.
FOR FOUNDERS, CEOS & LEADERSHIP TEAMS
Growth Diagnostic
For scale-up founders and CEOs who want to know exactly which wall they're approaching and what to do before they hit it.
£4,999
+ VAT
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Performance plateau assessment
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Category health analysis
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75-minute expert session with Laura & Diego
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Full written Growth Diagnostic report
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Strategic priorities ordered by urgency
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Delivered in 7 days
FOR PE & LATE-STAGE VC INVESTORS
Portfolio Diagnostic
For investors who need an independent read on growth health across their portfolio before the next round, before it becomes a problem.
Custom pricing
3-5 portfolio companies simultaneously
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Everything in the Growth Diagnostic
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3-5 companies benchmarked simultaneously
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Wall 1 & Wall 2 comparison across the portfolio
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Urgency ranking - who needs intervention first
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Investor-ready summary report
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Delivered in 10 business days
Not sure where to start?
Most founders begin with a free 30-minute Growth Snapshot Call. No data needed. No commitment. We'll tell you which wall you're approaching and whether the diagnostic is the right next step.
Book a Growth Snapshot Call >
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
WHO DELIVERS IT
Senior-led.
Always.
Diego Chicharro
PARTNER, GROWTH STRATEGY
17 years of brand strategy and effectiveness. Former Head of Effectiveness at Publicis London: IPA, Effies and Marketing Week recognised work. His clients have included Heineken, P&O Ferries and Buxton Water. Specialises in CEP strategy, category analysis and the evidence-based case for brand investment.
IPA recognised
EFFIES
MARKETING WEEK
PUBLICIS GROUPE
Laura Derbyshire
FOUNDER
23 years of scale-up brand, commercial and growth strategy. Board-level experience spanning DTC, retail, consumer tech and investor-backed businesses. Guided brands from early stage through to PE funding and exit including 35% CAGR for Suits Me and a £5.6m PE funding round for IRIS Audio.
23 YEARS EXPERIENCE
BOARD LEVEL
PE & VC
B2C & B2B
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
Which wall are you approaching?
Start with a free 30-minute Growth Snapshot Call. Laura or Diego will ask you about your business and advise as to whether the diagnostic is the right next step. No data needed. No commitment.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
One product. Two ways to work with us.
Fixed price. Senior-led. Delivered in 7-10 days.
Growth Health Profile
For scale-up founders and CEOs who want to know exactly where their growth ceiling is, before it becomes a crisis.
£3,500 + VAT
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Plateau Proximity Score across 5 signal clusters
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24 months of platform data processed by OSER.AI
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75-minute expert session with Laura and Diego
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Growth Health Profile report
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Strategic recommendations ordered by urgency
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Delivered in 7 days
Portfiolio Diagnostic
For PE and late-stage VC investors who need an independent read on growth health across their portfolio before the next round, not after.
Custom pricing
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Everything in the Growth Health Profile
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3–5 portfolio companies benchmarked simultaneously
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Plateau Proximity Score comparison across the portfolio
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Urgency ranking, which companies need intervention first
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Investor-ready summary report
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Delivered in 10 business days
All engagements begin with a free 20-minute Growth Snapshot Call. Kickoff within 5 working days of confirmation. Payments by invoice, 50% on booking, 50% on delivery.
Not sure where to start?
Most founders begin with a 20-minute Growth Snapshot Call. No data needed. No commitment. Just a clear conversation about where your business is.
If the diagnostic is right for you, we'll tell you. If it isn't, we'll tell you that too.
Book a Growth Snapshot Call >
Be Bold.
Be more Zebra.
AI is the new baseline. It is table stakes, not an edge. The businesses that will build lasting value over the next decade are the ones that combine genuine creative ambition and strategic thinking with the smart, purposeful use of AI to execute it.
That is the OSER model. Human-led. Evidence-grounded. AI-amplified. And built for the scale-up founders and investors who want to win, not just keep up.
Sustainable growth requires clarity & alignment
WORK WITH US
Growth diagnostic
OSER.AI processes 24 months of your growth data. Laura and Diego deliver a 75-minute expert session. You receive a Growth Health Profile and Plateau Proximity Score within 7 days. £3,500 £5,000 depending on complexity.
Growth strategy
Category strategy, brand positioning, growth architecture and investor-ready scenario forecasting, built on the diagnostic foundation.
Brand sprint
A structured brand strategy process for scale-up leadership teams built on our proprietary brand questionnaire and 1:1 interview methodology.
Founded by a global agency leader & partnered with a leading brand effectiveness strategist, we bring A-grade ad-land thinking, shaped by real-world scale-up & investor experience.
OUR VIEW ON AI
Human thinking.
Rare expertise.
AI-amplified.
OSER is not a traditional consultancy. We are not an agency. We are not a tech company. We are a rare combination of creative, strategic and commercial expertise, built specifically for the scale-up founders and investors who need to think bigger, move faster, and stand out in markets that are increasingly full of AI-generated noise.
We use AI deliberately, and with a clear view of what it can and cannot do. We have built our own agentic AI, OSER.AI, to give our clients a faster, sharper picture of their growth position than any consultancy has offered before. But the ideas, the strategy, the judgment, that is human. That has always been the rarest thing. And it still is.
Founded by a global agency leader & partnered with a leading brand effectiveness strategist, we bring A-grade ad-land thinking, shaped by real-world scale-up & investor experience.
Laura has led global brand and marketing teams across media, investment, and growth sectors, and served as an NED at Citywire. Before founding OSER, she spent 15 years in advertising, as MD and Partner at award-winning creative and media agencies, working with major international brands.
She now helps scaleups, growth companies and investors define brand direction, marketing strategy, and creative growth plans that drive measurable impact.
With over 20 years of shaping brand, strategy, and commercial growth, Laura has held senior leadership roles, including Managing Director and Partner within global advertising networks, and served as a Non-Executive Director at Citywire.
Partnering with Private Equity, Series A+ scaleups and £10m–£50m+ revenue businesses navigating inflection points such as repositioning, investor scrutiny, and leadership change.
Diego has spent over a decade within global agency networks, including Publicis Group and WPP, advising leading brands on translating creativity into measurable business impact.
He specialises in the discipline of effectiveness - ensuring that brand investment, strategic direction, and go-to-market decisions work together to drive sustained growth.
He partners with leadership teams and investors to connect strategy with real-world outcomes
“In markets defined by noise, the companies that win are those with the greatest clarity.”
With over 20 years of shaping brand, strategy, and commercial growth, Laura has held senior leadership roles, including Managing Director and Partner within global advertising networks, and served as a Non-Executive Director at Citywire.
Partnering with Private Equity, Series A+ scaleups and £10m–£50m+ revenue businesses navigating inflection points such as repositioning, investor scrutiny,
and leadership change.
Leadership
“Creativity is only valuable when it drives commercial return. The brands that outperform are those that connect bold ideas to measurable growth.”
Diego has spent over a decade within global agency networks, including Publicis Group and WPP, advising leading brands on translating creativity into measurable business impact.
He specialises in the discipline of effectiveness - ensuring that brand investment, strategic direction, and go-to-market decisions work together to drive sustained growth.
He partners with leadership teams and investors to connect strategy with real-world outcomes,.
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Start with clarity on your growth position
INSIGHTS
Frequently asked questions
INSIGHTS
Frequently asked questions
CLARITY & IDEAS
for Growth
CLARITY & IDEAS
for Growth
