Build self-reinforcing systems across demand generation, funnel conversion, sales pipeline, and customer value that create continuous momentum.
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A growth engine is a self-reinforcing part of your business that, once running, continues to generate revenue with less and less manual push. My framework has four engines Demand Generation, Marketing Funnel, Sales Pipeline, and Contract Value. Each engine handles a stretch of the customer journey, and together they form one continuous loop: attract the right people, convert them, close deals, then expand and retain accounts. Improve any single engine and revenue rises; improve all four and the gains compound.
Growth engines matter because they transform random marketing activity into systematic, compounding progress. Most organisations operate with disconnected tactics LinkedIn campaigns here, email sequences there, ad-hoc sales follow-ups that don't reinforce each other or create momentum. The engine framework forces you to see how components interconnect mathematically: leads × conversion rate × win rate × average deal value = revenue. This reveals where growth actually breaks down. Perhaps you generate abundant leads (strong demand generation) but few convert to opportunities (weak funnel), making additional lead generation wasteful until you fix conversion. Or perhaps your funnel works brilliantly but deals stall in pipeline (weak sales process), indicating that more top-of-funnel investment helps nothing. By treating each stage as a distinct engine with measurable throughput, teams can diagnose precisely where effort yields highest returns. The discipline also enables experimentation velocity: you can test improvements to individual engines whilst holding others constant, cleanly measuring impact. Organisations that implement the four-engine model report 25-35% faster growth because they systematically address actual bottlenecks rather than guessing where to invest. The framework also clarifies ownership different teams naturally own different engines improving accountability and coordination across marketing, sales, and customer success.
Track leads generated, funnel conversion, win rate, and average contract value. Multiplying these four numbers shows current revenue potential.
Whichever metric drags the total down is the first focus. For example, strong lead flow but low meeting bookings points to a funnel issue.
As one engine improves, re-calculate the full equation. Even modest lifts 10 % more leads, 5 % higher win rate stack into meaningful revenue jumps.
Once an engine performs at benchmark, shift focus to the next weakest link. Maintaining this rotation keeps the whole growth machine humming and protects against future plateaus.
The cockpit that sits above your four growth engines. Individual teams can excel at their own metrics, but without orchestration they're musicians playing different songs. This is where everything comes together and where improvements in one engine amplify gains in another.
The wrong tools create friction. The right ones multiply your output without adding complexity. These are the tools I recommend for growth teams that move fast.
Small improvements multiply. A 10% gain across twelve metrics doesn't add up to 120% - it compounds to 3x growth. This is the mathematical engine behind systematic growth.
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Four decisions that shape everything else. When growth feels harder than it should, the problem is usually here. Get these right and execution becomes much easier.
Without rhythm, effort becomes scattered and progress invisible. A consistent operating cadence keeps your team aligned and your growth system continuously improving.
Sean Ellis
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A practical framework for experiments and insights. Build loops, run tests and adopt a cadence that ships learning every week.
Sean Ellis
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A tour of growth case studies. Identify engines, spot patterns and design experiments that fit your context.
Verne Harnish
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Practical tools for scaling a company. Use rhythms, scorecards and priorities to keep a growing team aligned.
Install tracking infrastructure that shows which metrics drive revenue. Build your scorecard and launch your first cycle with the right foundation.
Distribute conversion credit across multiple touchpoints to recognise that customer journeys involve many interactions and channels working together.
Build distribution through your personal brand and network where your expertise and story attract customers who trust you before your company.
Measure the percentage of customers who stop paying to identify retention problems and calculate the true cost of growth in subscription businesses.
Document your repeatable processes in clear, step-by-step instructions that ensure consistency, enable delegation, and capture institutional knowledge.
Choose one metric that best predicts long-term success to align your entire team on what matters and avoid conflicting priorities that dilute focus.
Clear mental clutter by transferring all thoughts, tasks, and ideas onto paper or screen, creating space for focused work.
Build self-reinforcing systems across demand generation, funnel conversion, sales pipeline, and customer value that create continuous momentum.
Measure the month-over-month growth in qualified leads to predict future revenue and catch pipeline problems before they impact revenue three months later.
Define pipeline progression steps to standardise how reps advance opportunities and give managers visibility into where deals stall or convert unexpectedly.
Scale through partner relationships where other companies distribute your product to their customers in exchange for commissions or reciprocal value.
Interpret experiment results to understand the probability that observed differences occurred by chance rather than because your changes actually work.
Calculate how much pipeline you need relative to quota to ensure you generate enough opportunities to hit revenue targets despite normal conversion rates.
Analyse profit per customer to determine if your business model works at scale before investing heavily in growth and customer acquisition.
Define events that start automation workflows so the right message reaches people at the right moment based on their actual behaviour not arbitrary timing.
Group customers by acquisition period to compare behaviour patterns and identify which acquisition channels and time periods produce the best long-term value.
Deploy fast, low-cost experiments to discover scalable acquisition and retention tactics, learning through iteration rather than big bets.
Capture specific user actions in your product or website to understand behaviour patterns and measure whether changes improve outcomes or create friction.
Connect triggers to actions across systems so repetitive tasks happen automatically and teams can focus on work that requires judgement instead of admin.
Maintain an unchanged version in experiments to isolate the impact of your changes and prove causation rather than correlation with external factors.
Win customers through direct sales conversations where reps guide prospects from discovery to close with personalised solutions and relationship building.