How you can drive outsized impact in growth

Why smarter problem-solving, not bigger teams, can lead you to faster growth.

“We need to grow faster and improve ROAS.”

Sound familiar? I thought so.

I've been hearing variations of this on loop for ten years.

In that time, I've learned that having outsized impact on growth goals comes down to two key things:

1. Creating enough headspace to think about the problem (I covered that last week)

2. Smarter problem solving

Good news—you don’t need to be a genius for point two. The smartest people I’ve worked with all share one trait anyone can learn:

They’re exceptional at breaking problems down properly.

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How most people tackle projects:

Here’s the common pattern I see, with examples:

1. State the problem
   → “How do we acquire users cheaply in a new country?”

2. Brainstorm solutions
   → Paid ads, SEO, conversion tweaks, partnerships, etc.

3. Prioritise ideas
   → Use an effort/impact matrix etc.

4. Start executing

   → Sprints

This seems logical—but here’s the issue: it's built on assumptions you’ve made on the problem.
→ Maybe you’ve assumed the audience likes the same ads or funnel conversion will be the same

When you trust these assumptions, the journey from problem to solution rarely goes in a straight line. It looks more like:

And that squiggly path? That’s wasted time, missed goals, burnt budgets and underwhelming impact.

The simple thing smart people do differently

They don’t rush to ideate. Before proposing solutions, they obsess over understanding the problem.

They break it down, test assumptions, and investigate each part before jumping into ideas.

Let’s go back to the earlier example: “How do we acquire users cheaply in a new country?”

A smart breakdown might look like:

• How big is the audiences?

• Is the audience aware of products like ours?

• What % are actively looking for one?

• What’s the competitive landscape?

• Are the same acquisition channels available?

Then, for each question, they gather data:

→ Run a survey
→ Interview local users
→ Test a small campaign
→ Check search volume
→ Mystery shop the competition

Each assumption either gets validated or disproven—before big bets are made. That’s how you go from guesswork to a clearer path. From wasting cycles to winning faster.

Good people love ideating but don’t put the time in to understanding the problem.

I get it, I don’t particularly enjoy doing a user research call at 4pm on a Friday either, but once you’ve gathered the insight that leads you to chucking half the ideas out, you’ll be on a far more linear path to your goal.

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Try it

Next time you’re given a big ambiguous goal, don’t rush to a brainstorm all the exciting ideas to achieve it.

Instead, break the problem down.

Make a list of the assumptions. Then find ways to test them quickly.

It’ll feel slower at first—but you’ll move faster than everyone else in the long run.

This is what smart people do and is consistently a trait in colleagues I’ve seen get promoted and take on senior roles in businesses.

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Recap

🤦‍♂️ Most people jump straight to solutions, risking costly assumptions.
✅ Smart people slow down, dissect problems, and test assumptions to find smarter, quicker paths to growth.

Next week

Next week I’ll be talking about how to hire smarter people.

Hiring well is one of the most high leverage things you can do to increase the chances of your team’s success and I want to share what I’ve learned on how to do it well.