Every founder I talk to eventually asks some version of the same question on the first call: “So what would you do to drive growth for us?” It is a fair question. It is also the one question I will not answer on the spot, and the reason why is the whole job.
The question every founder asks
The discovery call has a predictable gravity to it. A founder is evaluating whether to spend real money on senior marketing help, and they want three things before they commit: confidence that the person across the table knows what they’re doing, a plan they can picture, and proof that the investment will pay back. Asking “what would you do?” is the fastest way to get all three at once. A confident, specific answer feels like a free sample of the value to come.
I understand the instinct. I’d want the same reassurance if I were writing the check. But the moment I deliver a crisp, off-the-shelf growth plan to a company I’ve known for forty-five minutes, I’ve told you something true about how I work, and it isn’t good. A generic answer is a red flag wearing a green flag’s clothes. It means I’ve pattern-matched your company to the last one that looked like it and handed you their plan. That’s not strategy. That’s a template with your logo on it.
Why there’s no generic answer
Growth strategy is the specific set of decisions (which customers to pursue, which channels to use, in what sequence, and at what spend) that move a particular company from where it is to where it’s trying to go. The operative word is particular. The same word, “growth,” points at completely different work depending on the company saying it.
I’ve run growth across very different businesses, and the lesson that repeats is that almost nothing transfers cleanly. What worked at Twitch (leaning into a passionate, already-assembled community and giving it reasons to show up) did not transfer to Hard Rock, where the launch of a digital sportsbook was about acquisition economics and regulatory market-by-market sequencing. What worked at Pandora (personalization at massive scale against an existing listener base) did not transfer to Amazon, where the surrounding ecosystem and customer relationship changed the entire equation. Five variables move the answer every time: stage, market, team, customer, and history. Change any one and the “right” growth play changes with it. A tactic isn’t good or bad in the abstract; it’s only ever a fit or a mismatch for a specific situation.
So when I refuse to free-associate a plan on the first call, I’m not being coy. I’m telling you the truth about how growth actually works. The honest answer to “what would you do?” is “I don’t know yet, but here’s exactly how I’d find out.”
What reverse engineering actually looks like
Here’s the “how I’d find out” answer, because that part I can give you on the first call.
Reverse engineering a business means starting from the destination, the specific outcome you’re trying to reach, and working backward to map every input that outcome requires, then comparing that map against what already exists to find the gap. Most marketing runs in the opposite direction: start with tactics, run them, and hope they add up to growth. Reverse engineering starts with the number and derives the tactics the number demands.
In practice it’s three moves. First, define the destination precisely. Not “grow faster” but “this specific revenue, from this kind of customer, by this date, and here’s why that target and not another.” Second, work backward through the chain that produces it: how many customers, acquired through which motion, at what cost, supported by what content, team, and systems. Third, map what already exists against that requirement (your current channels, spend, people, and data) so the gap between today and the goal becomes a concrete list instead of a vibe. That gap is the strategy. Everything I’d build is just closing it in the right order.
This is also why the first thirty days of any engagement are a diagnosis, not a campaign. Before I’d recommend spending a dollar, I’d audit where you actually are versus where you think you are, map the destination, and surface the gap. (I’ll break down exactly what that first-30-days audit looks like in next week’s post.) The work is structured. I run it through a four-phase sequence called ABCT®: Audit, Blueprint, Construct, Transfer. The order matters. Get the brain right first, then add the hands.
What Parul said, and why it’s the whole model
When Parul Khosla and Adriene Bueno, the founders of Arena, described the work, they didn’t lead with a clever campaign. They said: “The results have been real and fast: we’ve already had former members come back after receiving his emails, and our referral program is actively bringing new members into our ecosystem organically. Every deliverable came with clear, step-by-step instructions so we could hit the ground running.”
Read that again, because it’s the entire argument for this approach. The results were specific to Arena (winning back lapsed members, turning existing members into a referral engine) because the plan started from Arena’s destination and Arena’s existing assets, not from a generic “here’s how to grow a marketplace” deck. There was no off-the-shelf answer on day one. There was a diagnosis of what Arena actually had and what its goal actually required, and then the plays fell out of that gap. Getting to know a business isn’t a soft skill or a relationship-building nicety. It is the diagnostic. It’s the thing that makes the eventual plan work. (The full breakdown is in the Arena story.)
That’s why I’d rather lose a deal by refusing to guess than win one by pretending. The founders who get the most out of a fractional engagement are the ones who want the diagnosis, not the sample.
What to look for when you hire outside marketing help
If you’re evaluating a fractional CMO, a marketing consultant, or any senior outside help, the discovery call is your best instrument, as long as you flip how you read it. Stop grading people on how fast they produce a plan. Start grading them on the quality of their questions.
In the first week, a strong operator should be asking about your destination and your economics before they say a word about channels. Good signs sound like: What does success look like in twelve months, and why that number? Who is your highest-value customer, and what do they actually do before they buy? What have you already tried, what did it cost, and what did it return? Where do decisions about budget and priority currently escalate, and to whom? Those questions probe context and judgment, which are the scarce parts. Execution is cheap and hireable; the judgment about what to execute is what you’re actually paying for.
The red flag is the mirror image: an instant, confident growth plan delivered before they understand your buyer, your stage, or your numbers. Channel recommendations on the first call. A pitch built almost entirely on what worked at some famous company they used to work at, with no curiosity about whether your situation rhymes with that one or not at all. Speed of answer is not a sign of competence here. It’s usually a sign that you’re being handed a template. The model I run on (and the reason I won’t free-associate a plan in a discovery call) is laid out in the ABCT framework: diagnose first, prescribe second.
The call I’d actually want to have with you
If you came to a discovery call hoping I’d hand you a finished growth plan, I’m going to disappoint you on purpose, and then I’m going to ask you better questions than anyone has, because that’s where a real plan starts. If that’s the kind of partner you want, book a strategy call and we’ll start by reverse engineering your destination instead of guessing at your tactics.
Frequently asked questions
What does a fractional CMO do in the first 30 days?
In the first 30 days, a fractional CMO runs an audit: an honest read of where the business actually is versus where the founder thinks it is. That means interviewing the founder and team, reviewing data, spend, channels, and past campaigns, mapping the destination the company is funding toward, and identifying the gap between what exists today and what the goal requires. The output isn’t a campaign. It’s a diagnosis and a prioritized blueprint that tells you which channel, what sequence, and whether to spend at all.
Why won’t a good fractional CMO answer “what would you do to drive growth?” on the first call?
Because a generic answer is a red flag, not a green one. Growth strategy is contextual. It depends on stage, market, team, customer, and history. Anyone who can recite a plan before understanding your business is selling a template, not strategy. The honest answer on a discovery call is how I’d figure out what to do, not a pre-baked list of tactics.
What is reverse engineering a business?
Reverse engineering a business means starting from the destination, the specific outcome the company is trying to reach, and working backward to map every input required to get there, then comparing that map against what already exists to find the gap. Instead of starting with tactics and hoping they add up to growth, you start with the goal and derive the tactics the goal actually requires.
What questions should a fractional CMO ask in the first week?
A strong fractional CMO asks about the destination and the economics before tactics: What does success look like in twelve months and why that number? Who is the highest-value customer and what do they actually do before they buy? What has been tried, what did it cost, and what did it return? Where does every decision currently escalate back to the founder? The questions probe judgment and context, not which channels are trendy.
How do you hire the right fractional CMO?
Hire the fractional CMO who interrogates your business before prescribing a solution. Green flags: they ask about your destination, your unit economics, and your customer before talking tactics, and they can describe a process for getting to know your business. Red flags: an instant generic growth plan, channel recommendations before they understand your buyer, and a pitch built on what worked at another company without testing whether it transfers to yours.
Want the diagnosis, not the sample? Book a strategy call and we’ll reverse engineer your growth before you spend another dollar on the wrong tactic.