• Table of Contents

  • Stop Guessing: Growth Planning That Drives Action
  • Why Most Growth Plans Are Just Expensive Fiction
  • The Anti-Guessing Framework: How to Build a Plan That Works
  • 1. Ruthless Clarity on the Growth Driver
  • 2. Quantify the Opportunity (or Shut Up About It)
  • 3. Build a Roadmap That’s Actually a Map
  • 4. Assign Owners, Not Committees
  • Case Study: How One SaaS Company Stopped Guessing and Doubled ARR
  • Stop Guessing. Start Leading.
  • Next Steps: Burn the Deck, Build the Plan

Stop Guessing: Growth Planning That Drives Action

Let’s be honest—most “growth plans” are just glorified wish lists. A few charts, a sprinkle of last year’s buzzwords, and a vague hope that the market will magically reward your optimism. But hope isn’t a strategy, and guessing isn’t growth. If your plan doesn’t drive action, it’s not a plan—it’s a PowerPoint graveyard. At MarkCMO, we believe growth planning should be a weapon, not a whiteboard exercise. This article will show you how to ditch the guesswork, build a plan that actually moves the needle, and lead your team with the kind of clarity that makes investors nod and competitors sweat.

Why Most Growth Plans Are Just Expensive Fiction

Let’s start with a truth bomb: most growth plans are written to impress, not to execute. They’re filled with lofty goals, vague initiatives, and enough jargon to make a management consultant blush. But when it’s time to act? Crickets.

• No prioritization: Everything is “critical,” which means nothing is.
• Data-free decisions: Gut feelings masquerading as strategy.
• Disconnected from reality: Plans that ignore market dynamics, team capacity, or customer behavior.

It’s not that these companies don’t want to grow. It’s that they’re guessing—and guessing is the enemy of execution.

The Anti-Guessing Framework: How to Build a Plan That Works

Here’s the good news: you don’t need a crystal ball. You need a framework that forces clarity, prioritization, and accountability. We call it the Anti-Guessing Framework, and it’s built on four pillars:

1. Ruthless Clarity on the Growth Driver

Not all growth is created equal. Before you plan anything, identify your primary growth driver. Is it:

• New customer acquisition?
• Expansion revenue from existing customers?
• Increased frequency or usage?

Pick one. Yes, just one. If you’re trying to do all three at once, you’re not focused—you’re flailing.

2. Quantify the Opportunity (or Shut Up About It)

If you can’t put a number on it, it doesn’t belong in your plan. Period. Every initiative should answer two questions:

• What’s the potential impact in dollars or users?
• What’s the cost—in time, money, and people—to get there?

Stop guessing. Start modeling. Even a back-of-the-napkin forecast is better than blind optimism.

3. Build a Roadmap That’s Actually a Map

Most roadmaps are just to-do lists with prettier fonts. A real roadmap shows:

• Sequencing: What happens first, and why?
• Dependencies: What needs to be true before we can do X?
• Milestones: How do we know we’re on track?

If your roadmap doesn’t help your team make decisions, it’s not a roadmap—it’s a decoration.

4. Assign Owners, Not Committees

Accountability dies in a group chat. Every initiative needs a single owner with the authority—and responsibility—to drive it forward. No co-leads. No “shared accountability.” One throat to choke, one name on the scoreboard.

Case Study: How One SaaS Company Stopped Guessing and Doubled ARR

Let’s talk about a mid-stage SaaS company we worked with last year. They had a 40-slide growth plan, a dozen “strategic initiatives,” and zero traction. Sound familiar?

We helped them apply the Anti-Guessing Framework. Here’s what changed:

• They focused on expansion revenue as their primary growth driver—because their CAC was rising, but NRR was flat.
• They modeled the impact of a new customer success program and found it could add $4M in ARR with a $500K investment.
• They built a 6-month roadmap with clear milestones and weekly check-ins.
• They assigned a VP of CS as the single owner, with comp tied to NRR growth.

Result? NRR jumped from 102% to 128% in six months. ARR doubled in a year. And the CEO stopped waking up at 3 a.m. wondering what the hell the team was actually doing.

Stop Guessing. Start Leading.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if your growth plan isn’t driving action, it’s not the market’s fault. It’s yours. But the fix isn’t more meetings or prettier decks. It’s clarity, focus, and the courage to make hard choices.

So the next time someone asks for your growth plan, don’t hand them a slide. Hand them a strategy that bites.

“A growth plan that doesn’t drive action is just a hallucination with a budget.”

Next Steps: Burn the Deck, Build the Plan

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start growing, here’s your challenge:

• Pick one growth driver. Just one.
• Quantify the opportunity. No fluff, no fiction.
• Build a roadmap that makes decisions easier, not harder.
• Assign owners. Not committees. Owners.

And if your current plan doesn’t survive this test? Good. That means you’re finally ready to build one that will.

Mark Gabrielli
Founder, MarkCMO
[email protected]
www.linkedin.com/in/marklgabrielli