Why You Can’t Build Your Way Out of Slow Growth

Armed with this mindset, Barry is convinced that building an incredible product will lead to success. But six months after launch, his growth is a trickle rather than a torrent. The product he’s poured his heart into isn’t gaining traction, and his solution is always the same: build more.

Barry’s story highlights a harsh reality for product-first founders—when faced with slow growth, you can’t simply build your way out of it.

The Trap of the Product Death Cycle

Barry is stuck in what I call the Product Death Cycle. Each time growth stalls, he’s told that his product is missing a critical feature—feature X. So, he builds feature X. But now customers say it also needs features Y and Z. No matter how many features Barry adds, it’s never enough to tip the scales.

He tells himself that if people would just try the product, they’d see the difference. But when he talks to potential users, they don’t get it. Why? Because Barry hasn’t put enough time into building a community of early adopters or crafting a clear and compelling message about his product.

Barry doesn’t realise that the problem isn’t his product. It’s his market. In his rush to achieve product-market fit, he’s focused almost entirely on the product side of the equation, assuming the market will take care of itself.

The Real Problem: Growth Is About More Than the Product

Barry’s predicament is all too common among founders who prioritize building over everything else. They see the product as the ultimate growth engine, but the reality is more nuanced. Growth requires balance—between product and market.

Barry’s growth is stalled because he’s missing two crucial pieces of the equation:

1. A Strong and Motivated Beachhead Audience
   Even the best product can’t succeed without the right audience. Barry hasn’t put enough time into building a community of early adopters—his beachhead customers—who are ready and eager for his solution. Instead, he’s relying on a handful of industry contacts, hoping they’ll spread the word. But these contacts are lukewarm—they’re not committed enough to adopt his product or champion it to others.

   Building a beachhead audience takes intentionality. It’s about identifying your most likely early customers, deeply understanding their needs, and crafting a value proposition that speaks directly to them. These are the people who will give you early feedback, validate your product, and become your first evangelists.

2. Language-Market Fit
   Barry is passionate about his product, but passion isn’t enough. When potential users hear his pitch, they don’t get it. Why? Because Barry hasn’t found the right language to communicate his product’s value.

   Language-market fit is about clearly articulating what your product does, why it’s different, and why it matters. It’s not just about what you say but how you say it—and whether it resonates with your audience. Without this clarity, even the best product will struggle to gain traction.

Breaking Free from the Product Death Cycle

Barry’s story is a cautionary tale, but it doesn’t have to end in frustration. The challenges he faces—building a beachhead audience, finding language-market fit, and aligning product and market—are common, but they’re also solvable.

In The Growth Equation, I outline a framework to help founders avoid the Product Death Cycle and unlock sustainable growth. Here’s how founders like Barry can turn things around:

• Focus on the market as much as the product: Understand your beachhead audience, build relationships, and create demand.

• Find the right language: Master the art of explaining your product in a way that resonates.

• Balance the growth equation: Growth happens at the intersection of product and market, not by focusing on one at the expense of the other.

The Growth Equation is designed to help founders like Barry break out of these patterns. It’s a roadmap for early-stage growth, covering everything from building an audience to optimising your product for activation and retention.

Don’t let slow growth hold you back. Discover how to build not just a product, but a market for your product. Check out The Growth Equation—because growth doesn’t just happen. You build it.