The Method — Build
What a business looks like before build
A business heading into Build usually looks like this: an ambitious plan with no proof behind any of it.
7 min read · Reviewed by both partners
Recognising the before-state matters because the phase is often skipped by businesses that most need it.
None of this means the business is failing. It means it has outgrown being run on instinct alone.
Step by step
The symptom the owner notices
An ambitious plan with no proof behind any of it. It is felt long before it is named.
The explanation that gets offered
Usually the market, usually a competitor, occasionally a staff member. Rarely the model.
What is actually true underneath
The phase’s job — building the smallest thing that relieves the constraint and proving it works — has not been done, so nothing downstream can be evaluated.
Why it persists
Because the business is busy, and busy is easy to mistake for healthy.
What changes once the phase runs
One intervention shipped and its effect known.
Common mistakes
Waiting for a quiet quarter
There is not one. The phase gets run during a busy period or it does not get run.
Assuming size makes it unnecessary
Small businesses skip it for being too small and large ones for being too complex. Both are wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
What a business looks like before build?
Recognising the before-state matters because the phase is often skipped by businesses that most need it.
What should a business owner do with this before booking an Assessment?
It sits under The Build Phase in the Growth Scaling Method. The next step for an owner is the $1,500 Assessment, which reads your own numbers against everything described above.
How much should we budget?
Budget $4,500 to find out what to build. Budget from $5,000 a month only if the Plan says a recurring engine is warranted — sometimes it says the opposite.
Who is doing this work day to day?
David Mitroff and Steven Lockhart, jointly. The firm is deliberately structured so the people in the pitch are the people on the account.
References
- www.bbb.org — primary source
- www.score.org — primary source
- www.ftc.gov — primary source
Find out where you actually are
The Assessment places the business in the sequence honestly.
Growth-Scaling is a marketing and business-scaling firm. It is not a licensed practitioner in any client vertical and does not provide medical, legal, financial, or contracting services; all industry content on this site is marketing and growth guidance for owners in those fields. Figures describing past engagements refer to specific businesses under specific conditions and are not a prediction of any future result. No outcome is promised.
Written by Steven Lockhart, reviewed by David Mitroff, Ph.D. Figures and regulatory details reflect the cited public sources; requirements vary by state and situation. Growth-Scaling is a marketing and business-scaling firm, not a licensed practitioner in any client vertical.