Why Most Scaleups Don’t Have a Growth Problem - They Have a Strategy Problem.
- Laura Derbyshire
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Why Scaleup Growth Strategy Breaks as Companies Grow
If you’re leading a scaleup, January can feel oddly uncomfortable.
The ambition is there, the targets are clear, you know the board wants momentum, and the team is back at their desks.
And yet I often hear CEO's telling me that "growth feels harder than it should". Marketing is busy, but outcomes are unpredictable. Meetings multiply. Slack channels are added daily. Decisions slow down. Everyone is working hard, but progress feels slow. It is incredibly frustrating, and there is also the worry of burnout - what if everyone is spent by March? We have such ambitious growth targets to hit.
This is usually the moment leaders say: “We have a growth problem.”
Most founders assume this is a growth problem. In reality, it’s a scaleup growth strategy problem, one where ambition has outpaced shared clarity.
The Growth Myth That Trips Up Scaleups
When growth stalls, the instinctive response is tactical:
“We need more leads.”
“We need better performance marketing.”
“We need a new agency.”
“We need a CMO.”
Sometimes those things are true. Often, they’re not. What we see repeatedly at OSER is this: execution struggles aren’t the root issue - they’re the symptom.
The real problem usually sits higher up the stack:
A strategy that isn’t shared
A vision that isn’t sharp enough to guide decisions
A brand that doesn’t do enough heavy lifting
A growth narrative that doesn’t align teams or capital
McKinsey research consistently shows that companies with strong strategic alignment outperform peers on both revenue growth and profitability - not because they execute harder, but because they execute with clarity.
When clarity is missing, everything downstream suffers.
The OSER Growth Stack
At OSER, we think about growth as a system, not a channel, not a campaign, not a quarter.
We call it The OSER Growth Stack:
Strategic Clarity
Strategic Coherence
Compounding Growth
Let’s break that down.
1. Strategic Clarity
Can your leadership team articulate the same story?
Strategic clarity isn’t a slide deck. It’s a shared understanding.
We often start by asking a deceptively simple question:
“Can three members of your leadership team explain the strategy in the same way?”
If the answers differ, then you don’t have alignment; you have interpretation.
Without clarity:
Decision-making slows
Teams pull in different directions
Marketing becomes reactive
AI tools amplify noise instead of impact
Clarity questions to ask yourself:
What problem are we really solving for customers?
What decisions should now be easy?
What are we not doing anymore?
Clarity doesn’t constrain growth. It unlocks it.
2. Strategic Coherence
Does everything point in the same direction?
This is where most scaleups quietly unravel. Brand, marketing, sales, product, AI tools, investor messaging - all moving, but not always together.
Coherence means:
Brand supports growth, not just awareness
Marketing activity reinforces positioning
AI amplifies a clear strategy instead of fragmenting it
Sales conversations echo the same narrative investors hear
When coherence is missing, teams compensate with volume. More content. More campaigns. More tools. More effort. But coherence beats intensity every time.
Coherence questions to ask:
Does our brand actually make buying easier?
Are we building demand, or just chasing it?
Does our growth narrative make sense externally and internally?
3. Compounding Growth
Is growth repeatable or constantly re-won?
True scale isn’t about spikes. It’s about momentum that compounds.
Compounding growth happens when:
Strategy reduces friction
Brand increases conversion efficiency
Systems replace heroics
Investors see predictable value creation
This is where strategy becomes enterprise value.
Compounding growth questions:
What is genuinely driving revenue today?
What would still work if we doubled next year?
Where are we relying on effort instead of leverage?
When Strategy Problems Masquerade as Marketing Failures
Many scaleups blame marketing when the real problem is strategic direction.
Marketing teams can’t fix:
Vague positioning
Conflicting priorities
Unclear growth bets
Leadership misalignment
They can only expose them. Which is why throwing more budget, more channels, or more tools at the problem often makes things worse, not better.
A Practical Leadership Reset: 5 Moves That Change Everything
If growth feels harder than it should, start here:
Run a Clarity Audit
Ask senior leaders to articulate strategy independently. Compare answers.
Map Brand to Growth
Identify where the brand is doing real work and where it’s decoration.
Set Decision Principles
Make future trade-offs easier by agreeing on what matters most.
Use AI Strategically
AI should amplify clarity, not compensate for its absence.
Align Metrics to Long-Term Value
Balance short-term performance with signals of sustainable growth.
None of these requires a rebrand; they just require leadership clarity.
Why This Matters Now
As markets tighten, competition intensifies, and AI accelerates execution, clarity becomes a compounding advantage.
I spend a lot of time helping founders, CEOs, and leadership teams regain clarity and build growth strategies that actually execute.
If growth feels noisy, fragmented, or harder than it should be, that’s usually a signal worth listening to.
Get in touch if you want to explore what clarity could unlock for your business.
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