I was sitting in a conference room with a Series A startup.
They'd just raised $8M. Their tech worked. Their market was hungry. But they were bleeding revenue.
The CMO kept talking over the product lead. The CEO avoided conflict like a disease. And the COO was secretly interviewing at other companies because he couldn't stand the passive-aggressive Slack threads anymore.
They'd hired me to fix their brand positioning.
But the brand wasn't the problem.
The people were.
Most of the time, your churn problem isn't a product problem. Your positioning problem isn't a messaging problem. Your growth problem isn't a funnel problem.
It's a people problem wrapped in business language.
The startup I mentioned?
They spent six months tweaking their website, running A/B tests, and hiring consultants. They burned through $200K.
None of it worked.
Because the real issue was that their leadership team couldn't make a decision without turning it into a three-week emotional hostage situation.
You can't A/B test your way out of a trust deficit.
So here's how to spot when you're solving the wrong problem.
#1 The Meeting Test
Go into your next leadership meeting and count how many times someone says "we" versus "I think" or "my team."
If the ratio is skewed toward ownership silos, you don't have a strategy problem. You have a collaboration problem.
Language reveals loyalty. When people say "my team" instead of "our company," they've already mentally checked out of shared success.
First step: In your next meeting, notice the pronouns. Write them down. Then privately ask one person on the team, "Do you feel like we're building this together or in competition?"
#2 The Decision Audit
Look at your last five big decisions. How many took longer than two weeks? How many required multiple follow-up meetings?
If the answer is "most of them," you're not being thorough.
You're avoiding tension.
Speed is a proxy for trust. When teams trust each other, they move fast. When they don't, they drown in the process.
Pick one decision that's been sitting for over a week. Set a 30-minute timer and force it to resolution.
No follow-ups allowed.
Micro-action (10 minutes): Text three people on your team right now. Ask them: "What's one thing we avoid talking about that's slowing us down?"
Don't defend. Just listen.
You'll learn more in 10 minutes than in 10 strategy decks.
#3 The Exit Interview Reframe
Stop asking why people leave. Start asking why people stay.
The answers will gut you, but they'll tell you the truth.
People lie in exit interviews. They don't lie when you ask them why they haven't left yet.
In your next one-on-one, ask your best performer, "What's the one thing that almost made you quit?"
Then shut up and listen.
That startup I worked with?
They finally did this. Turned out their best designer almost quit three times because the CEO kept overruling her in client meetings.
They fixed that one behavior.
Revenue recovered in eight weeks.
Not because they changed the brand. Because they stopped breaking the people.
Look, I get it. It's easier to blame the funnel or the product or the market. People problems are messy and uncomfortable and personal.
But ignoring them is expensive.
And the longer you wait, the more expensive it gets.
So here's my question for you: Reply and tell me which of the three tactics feels most doable and why.
— Shashank
P.S.
Need help figuring out if your problem is the brand, strategy, or just humans being humans?