01 The plateau is rarely one channel
Post-PMF plateaus usually show up as noisy activity: more content, another hire, another agency, without a single bottleneck everyone agrees on.
- Pipeline arrives in waves
- CAC unstable or unexplained
- Founder still owns every growth decision
- Reporting shows activity, not decisions
02 Force a constraint before you fund another quarter
The job is to name the lead constraint across positioning, acquisition, conversion, reporting, and ownership, then sequence work so the next expensive bet is obvious.
- One lead layer
- Evidence tied to revenue or qualified pipeline
- A 30–90 day sequence
- Falsifiable success signals
03 Then pick the engagement shape
Sometimes the answer is diagnosis only. Sometimes a sprint, a system build, or fractional leadership. The shape follows the constraint, not the other way around.
- Growth Diagnosis when the path is fuzzy
- Sprint when you need signal this quarter
- System build when channels run in isolation
- Fractional CMO when judgement cadence is missing