Ready, Fire, Oops: How To Recover From a Growth Strategy Gone Wrong

Contributed to EO by Zac Stucki, a growth strategist who specializes in helping early-stage SaaS companies bridge the gap between early and widespread adoption. As the co-founder of Ignition Point Strategies, he moves SaaS founders from early traction to growth by using data to create a deeper understanding of your customer. Zac is also a sought-after speaker and workshop facilitator.

When people hear I’ve been married for over a decade, they're shocked. Then, I'm always asked the same question: “What's the secret to staying married so long?”

I have to laugh because I don’t know of any great secret. And if there was one, I’m not certain just “sticking around” would’ve revealed it to me. But the answer I give is, “You've got to be 100%, almost irrationally dedicated to each other. Anything less than that won't work."

And I honestly do believe that's why my marriage has lasted through our ups and downs. Because, in reality, there isn't one “secret” to marriage. It's a sustained experiment in dedication and adaptability.

The Art of Constant Rediscovery

Here's what I mean: people are constantly changing — including your spouse. You’ve got to learn to fall in love with this person over and over again. That also requires adapting to the changes that come along with it. Successful marriages require a consistent effort to reconnect with, rediscover, and recommit to each other or it won’t work.

It’s not big, sweeping actions that keep marriages strong; it’s steady, intentional connection. Your business is no different. The bold, fast-paced tactics that drew in your initial customers must now mature into a more deliberate, customer-centered strategy.

When Business is Truly Like a Marriage

Business is often described as a marriage. People say partnerships are like marriages. That may be true, but it overlooks the fact that the more poignant “marriage” is between the business and its customers, which makes more sense. You court your customers, make promises to them, and commit to meeting their needs. When courtship stops, promises are broken, and needs are unmet, your customers will leave you — just like a spouse.

When I started dating my future wife, I planned the coolest, most extravagant dates — chalk paint fights, sunrise hikes, shotgun shooting, you name it. I used the “ready, fire, aim” strategy because I had to. I didn’t know what she liked yet. However, years later when I was in grad school and my wife courageously told me, “I love you, but I’m not romantically in love with you,” I could plan dates I knew would “click” with her and allow us to reconnect. I found a seedy pool hall in Tempe, AZ, where we could shoot pool, talk, and fall back in love.

From First Dates to Long-Term Commitment

Every startup follows the same “ready, fire, aim” strategy — they throw spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. They use the scientific method to hypothesize, form tests, and take imperfect action to find and “date” their customers. But, over time, the company grows and matures, and so do their customers.

At this point, it would make sense for companies to go back to the basics while still building on the data they’ve gathered. This means leveraging existing customer and company data to ask deeper, more meaningful questions to uncover who your customers are and the deeper motivations and needs that drive their decisions. But after dozens of conversations with founders and CEOs, I've discovered that many companies find themselves stuck in the “ready, fire, aim” cycle, unable to break free from the startup mindset that got them there.

The Costs of Not Growing Up

This persistent “ready, fire, aim” approach shows up in familiar ways — rushing to develop and market new features based on “gut” without any customer validation, pursuing any potential customer regardless of fit, and treating every market challenge like it needs a custom solution. It’s like continuing to plan elaborate first dates when what your relationship needs is the pool hall in Tempe, where you can just slow down and talk.

This “ready, fire, aim” attitude is also expensive. For Quibi, a streaming app with US$1.75B in funding, it proved fatal. Instead of listening to customer needs, they stuck with their “gut” about premium, short-form content for which there was little demand. Within six months, Quibi had blown through all its funding and had to shut down. While Quibi's collapse was dramatic, even less extreme cases of this mindset carry significant costs.

It pushes up customer acquisition costs due to scattered, disorganized marketing efforts. It unnecessarily lengthens sales cycles because messaging doesn’t resonate with maturing customer needs. And most importantly, existing customers start to ask, “Do you even know me?” as their evolving needs go unaddressed, increasing churn, decreasing referrals, and stalling growth.

Finding Your Way Back

That’s when companies start to panic and think they need to “innovate” their offering. In reality, they need to do the opposite — slow down, analyze their data, and rebuild their strategy around a deeper customer understanding. It’s not the grand gestures that save marriages. It’s the consistent, intentional connection. And, it’s the same with your business. The experimental, rapid-fire, gut-driven tactics that helped you win your first customers need to evolve into something more intentional and customer-focused.

That means getting out of the office and getting the good, bad, and ugly from your customers. It’ll highlight your successes (and failures) in new ways. It may hurt your ego, but trust me, it’ll be worth it. Especially because divorce — and bankruptcy court — is expensive.

Don’t miss Zac’s related posts, How To Take The Guesswork Out of Scaling and Why Failing Fast is Bad Advice.