Act-Based Business Growth
Build each growth stage around a few durable strategic catalysts.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
Act-Based Business Growth divides a company’s journey into multi-year stages, each powered by a few major strategic catalysts. Leaders first define the current act’s destination, such as reaching $10 million or $100 million in revenue, and then select the limited set of changes capable of getting there. They align people, product, positioning, and go-to-market execution around those priorities and monitor the leading indicators that reveal whether the act is working. Once the existing model approaches its natural limits, the company deliberately begins another act with different capabilities. The model discourages premature endgame planning and constant tactical switching by emphasizing sequential transformation, strategic clarity, and sustained execution.
Origin
Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan used HubSpot’s journey from startup to a billion-dollar revenue company to identify two roughly seven-year acts, followed by a third platform and internationalization act.
Core principles
- 01Treat growth as a sequence of distinct acts, not one continuous playbook.
- 02Give each act a small number of strategic priorities.
- 03Expect a successful act to require years of sustained execution.
- 04Replace endgame speculation with a vision for the next stages.
- 05Change the growth model when the current act reaches its limits.
How to run it
- 1
Define the Current Act
Set a concrete destination for the present stage, including its approximate revenue range, customer profile, and strategic outcome.
Pro tip Describe the act in one sentence that the whole company can repeat.
Watch out Do not confuse a quarterly target with a complete business act.
- 2
Select the Catalysts
Choose three or four strategic moves capable of changing the company’s growth trajectory. These may involve category positioning, product expansion, distribution, pricing, or operating capabilities.
Pro tip Prioritize changes that reinforce one another.
Watch out Too many simultaneous priorities dilute the sustained effort each catalyst requires.
- 3
Map the Growth Model
Identify the core drivers, leading indicators, and constraints that explain how the business grows during this act.
Pro tip Focus attention on the few metrics that truly move the model.
Watch out Trying to improve every metric at once obscures the real growth levers.
- 4
Execute for Years
Put capable teams behind the selected strategies and sustain execution despite delayed results. Review evidence without abandoning the strategy merely because it has not matured in six or twelve months.
Pro tip Separate evidence that the strategy is wrong from normal implementation friction.
Watch out Even a correct strategy can look ineffective before its systems and channels scale.
- 5
Design the Next Act
When the current model approaches its ceiling, define the new products, channels, markets, or operating model required for the next stage.
Pro tip Begin capability building before the existing act fully stalls.
Watch out Do not assume the playbook that created the first success can produce every subsequent stage.
In the wild
HubSpot’s first act combined inbound category creation, scalable acquisition, product focus, and pricing changes to approach $100 million in revenue. Its second act added multiple products, product-led growth, stronger product investment, and cross-sell and upsell mechanics that supported the journey toward $1 billion.
→ The company progressed through two distinct, long-duration growth models rather than trying to scale one original playbook indefinitely.
Common mistakes
Planning Only the Endgame
An exit or ultimate valuation does not explain the intermediate transformations required to realize the company’s potential.
Treating Acts Like Campaigns
A major business act commonly takes five to eight years, so judging it on a six-month campaign timeline encourages destructive switching.
Adding Too Many Strategies
A long act may still depend on only three or four decisive strategies executed exceptionally well.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for founders and executives planning how a startup can evolve through several major stages of growth.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for teams seeking a rapid tactical fix without a durable business strategy.
From the transcript
“I want you to tell me how many stages and acts and the vision you have for this business and then we can know what…”
“there were really only like three or four big, big strategies over the course of that period of time.”
“It's not a six month thing, it's not a 12 month thing, it is a grind.”
From the episode
How We Grew HubSpot From $10 Million to $1 Billion