Season 1
You’re Doing
Growth
Wrong
For startup founders and marketers tired of learning about growth the hard way
![[S1E6] Katie Deloso: “Don’t sell them, just listen to them”](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/510fa084e4b060f86e73735a/1715775983206-ZFEMHVKO6WZV4W3UAD49/s1e6_katie_deloso.png)
![[S1E5] Diane Wiredu, Lion Words: Not everyone gets to be the Liquid Death of B2B SaaS — and that’s OK.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/510fa084e4b060f86e73735a/1713973205124-O9LRCFXRLVPHZ8PWKJ2K/s1e5_diane_lion_words_cover_image.png)
![[S1E4] Alan Albert: “We tend to think our first ideas are the best ones, and we run with them. But sometimes they're not the best ideas.”](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/510fa084e4b060f86e73735a/1712317041820-7REKYWD6VBAVE0XF7BK3/S1E4_Alan_Albert.png)
![[S1E3] Talking about (most common) early-stage startup mistakes with Lucy Heskins. Because nobody should have to *cry in marketing* alone](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/510fa084e4b060f86e73735a/1710334587500-CKPRUSWGG9J1GP3HM5M9/lucy_episode_cover.png)
![[S1E2] Heather Lawver: branding is not what you think it is. Plus: how to create pitch decks that get you funding.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/510fa084e4b060f86e73735a/1709123657877-MRPV1JGYV2YWCW315DVF/heather_episode_cover.png)
![[S1E1] Jocelyn Brady: Hustle culture is killing us](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/510fa084e4b060f86e73735a/1707918293882-SYW2O8S33XBX19FL058T/Jocelyn_pod_episode_cover.png)
Choose your own adventure by scrolling through published posts:
When to do a complete website overhaul… and when not to
In my B2B SaaS conversion copywriting world, “aspirational behavior” + “temporal landmarks” almost always equals “new website copy in Q1Q2.”
But is it the right thing to do, right now, for your startup?…
How to audit your B2B SaaS website and improve conversions
Adding power words to your B2B SaaS website headlines won't fix conversions. Do this instead.
I’ve reviewed dozens of early-stage startup websites and worked with Series A and bootstrapped companies on their web copy and messaging, and in all cases, tweaking hero section headline was not the answer.
The answer was figuring out why the website was actually underperforming — and how to fix that.
The “how” will depend on your product and your audience. But the website sections that are neglected are almost always the same.
When what you don’t know hurts your conversion rates
You can’t scale effectively without answering these questions:
“What do we say to our audience?”
“How can we position ourselves in a way that makes sense to our audience?”
“How do we differentiate ourselves from other solutions?”
“How can we stand out — and present our product in a way that makes our prospects want to find out more?”
“How can we persuade our prospects to reach out?”
And very often, as I start answering these questions for my clients, this is where we uncover those potential issues that would otherwise have stayed invisible.
A rocketship launch or a leap of faith?
Trying to speed up your startup growth may be slowing it down. If you’re focusing on quick fixes and not pattern-finding.
When my prospects say: “We have no time for this,” “We already know everything about our customers,” “We’ll just A/B test it,” or “Can you just write it?” — what I hear is: “We’re flying blind and kinda like it that way.”
(I have yet to work on a project where all of the research data lined up neatly with assumptions and guesses about conversion drivers for a specific target audience. Never ever has it happened — which is why we need the research phase in the first place.)
4 mindset traps that prevent you from running effective customer interviews
“Talk to your customers,” they said. But how do you actually get to those mind-blowing insights everyone’s talking about?
Yes, interviewing customers is complicated. But not the way you think.
Scheduling interviews, coming up with incentives (or choosing not to incentivize), deciding on the questions, and challenging yourself to turn on your camera are all table stakes. The biggest challenge: overcoming mindset traps that make you a crappy interviewer, without you even noticing.