How to Create a Winning Growth Strategy for Your Startup in 2025

90% of startups fail. But the ones that turn into billion dollar companies follow a very specific growth formula.

I’ve coached over 50 startups and helped Fortune 500 companies scale and grow their businesses. Let me show you exactly how to create a winning growth strategy for your startup in 2025, in 3 simple steps.

You will learn which growth strategies no longer work, and how top startups are scaling right now - so you can copy their strategy and build your successful startup.

But first, let me show you why most startups fail to grow in 2025, because once you see that, everything else will click.

Imagine this: You have a great idea, a solid product, and your first customers. But after the initial excitement, your growth stops.

So you do whatever it takes to keep growing. You start trying random tactics:

• Running ads
• Posting on social media
• Random collaboration with the next best business partner

But nothing works. And why is that? Because most startups don't fail because they have bad products. They fail because they don't have a clear plan on how to grow.

The reason so many startups fail to grow is a mix of these 3:

If you ask a lot of founders what their goal is, they will tell you, "We want to grow".  Fine, but what does that really mean?

• More users?
• More revenue?
• Higher customer retention?

They can't say. They don't know what they want.

Second, they don't know how to measure success. So they focus on website visitors or social media shares and likes. But real growth comes from your KPIs - the metrics that really impact your business success.

→ For Airbnb, it's nights booked.
→ For Spotify, it's time spent listening.

Third, since they don't know what they want long-term, they focus on short-term wins. They give discounts like 50% off their product to get any customers, or invest in short-term ads instead of thinking long-term.

So their startup never grows long term.

These are the 3 most common reasons why most startups struggle to grow. Now let me show you the growth strategies that won't work in 2025, and more importantly, what successful startups are doing instead.

Most startup founders think growth means getting as many new customers as possible. So they take all the customers they can get – even if they have to heavily discount their product.

But the best startups don't focus on acquisition, they focus on retention. They build a relationship with their customers.

And the reason is simple: Today, competition is high, and you have to have something that sets you apart from your competition - and that trust, that relationship with customers is the best way to get people to choose you over your competition.

Does this sound familiar? You do everything to sell your product and after the sale you think you're done and forget about the customer.

If so, you are in for trouble.

The best startups don't sell their products and that's it - they build communities around their products. The loyal fans who recommend the product to their friends and families.

But why is this so important?

Because trust is the new currency - especially in a world flooded with AI-generated content. People want to buy from people they trust.

Okay, here's a growth strategy that doesn't work anymore - trying to be the cheapest option.

Believe me, it's a losing game.

You will only get customers who are super price sensitive and who will leave as soon as a cheaper competitor shows up. You won't have a  community, you won't have a customer relationship.

So instead, successful startups focus on creating value - they either have better features or a unique experience that competitors can't easily replicate.

And that's what they focus on.

Now that you know what doesn't work and what growth strategies successful startups use, let's dive into the exact steps to building a winning growth strategy for 2025.

But before that, let me show you something that will help you on your startup journey - my Startup Success Bundle.

The Startup Success Bundle is perfect for you if you are looking for an actionable, proven system - full of worksheets, cheat sheets and templates - to guide you to startup success.

Check it out!

The first step is to define your most important metrics - the KPIs (key performance indicators). You have to know what you want to achieve.

Just saying "we want to grow" is not enough.

Your KPIs will tell you if you are going in the right direction. So you have to ask yourself:

• What do we want to achieve?
• How do we define success?

It could be increasing revenue, reducing costs, or expanding into a new market. In the beginning - as a startup - you want to get your first customers and become profitable.

So a goal could be, "We want to get 100 customers by the end of this quarter. The important thing here is to be super clear so that everyone in your team understands what you are aiming for.

Here is a pro tip: Make sure that your KPIs are SMART. SMART stands for:

• Specific (clearly define what you want to achieve)
• Measurable (make sure you can track success)
• Achievable (set realistic goals)
• Relevant (make sure it is relevant to your business success)
• Time-Bound (set a deadline)

So you need to be very specific about your goal. And once you have defined your KPIs, you define the underlying metrics that will help you achieve your KPIs.

So to get 100 customers, one possible underlying metric that directly influences this goal is the conversion rate on your website.

So be very clear about how you are going to measure success and what metric directly influences your goal. You have to be able to measure it, otherwise there is no point in this exercise.

Write them down. If you’re unsure, that’s your first step: Get crystal clear on what really moves the needle.

Knowing what you want to achieve is great, but without a clear plan, you won't get there. So you need to create a roadmap and an action plan.

Now, there is no need to make this too complicated - especially in the beginning. I would recommend that you start with a 90-day plan and map out the big milestones that you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve them.

For example, for the first 30 days you might say: "We want to get our first 100 customers".

How do you get there?

You could ask your friends or family if they know anyone who might like your product, create valuable content for your audience, make some cold calls or send cold emails.

Whatever it is, write it down in those smaller action steps. They will lead you step by step to your big milestone.

The next bigger milestone could be to "get 500 customers". So, you could expand your marketing channels and go for other strategies like ads or business partnerships.

And then, since you already have some customers by that time, your third big milestone could be to "increase the average order value by 3% compared to the previous quarter".

So you could build some order bumps at the end of the checkout page to get people to upgrade. For each action step, I like to go even deeper and break down the specific tasks needed to achieve each milestone.

I can't stress this enough - if your goal or your action steps are just a vague idea, you're not going to get there. But if you're super clear about what you need to do, you will get there.

Most startups fail not because of bad ideas or because they don't know how to reach their milestone, but because they don’t execute effectively.

They get caught up in daily tasks instead of making real progress. The key here is momentum. So set small daily or weekly goals based on your roadmap and start taking action - even if things aren't perfect.

It's better to take small steps every day than to wait for the perfect moment. Don't wait until everything feels "ready" - that was one of the biggest lessons for me. You can always improve as you go.
‍
But execution alone isn't enough. You need to track your progress against your KPIs. For example what I did was to set a time every saturday to review my KPIs and ask myself:

• Are we moving in the right direction?
• Is our strategy working?
• Are we meeting our growth goals?

I used excel as a tracking system in the beginning. Keep this in mind - especially as an early-stage startup, your big advantage is that you are still flexible.

So if you see that something is not working, adjust your strategy and move on. And if a strategy is driving significant growth, double down on it.

Now you have a proven framework to build a winning growth strategy for your startup in 2025. Define your KPIs, build your roadmap with your milestones, and take action.
‍
But hey, why not make your life even easier and increase your chances of building a successful startup with a proven system? Check out my Startup Success Bundle. It's my answer to founders getting stuck in the process or making critical mistakes that cost their business.
‍
The Startup Success Bundle is perfect for you if you are looking for an actionable, proven system - full of worksheets, cheat sheets and templates - to guide you to business success.

Check it out now!