The Growth Engine

Most startups don’t fail because they can’t get their first customers. They fail because they can’t build a repeatable system to get the next 90.In this episode of The Growth Engine Podcast, Mike Parsons breaks down one of the most misunderstood phases in startup growth: the transition from early traction to scalable product-market fit. You’ve landed your first 10 customers. Great. But now comes t...

Most startups don’t fail because they can’t get their first customers. They fail because they can’t build a repeatable system to get the next 90.In this episode of The Growth Engine Podcast, Mike Parsons breaks down one of the most misunderstood phases in startup growth: the transition from early traction to scalable product-market fit. You’ve landed your first 10 customers. Great. But now comes t...

Most founders think they have a conversion problem. So they optimise:* pricing* onboarding* landing pages* ads* funnels* featuresBut what if the real issue is deeper? In this episode of The Growth Engine, Mike Parsons breaks down the “Seek & Solve Test” — a simple but powerful framework to determine whether your startup is solving a real, urgent, valuable problem. Because if customers aren’t activ...

Why Customers Don’t Buy (And the Simple Test You’re Missing)Customers aren’t buying. And most founders think it’s because of:– the product– the pricing– the marketingIt’s not.👉 The real reason is simpler — and harder to admit:the problem isn’t strong enough. In this episode of The Growth Engine, Mike Parsons breaks down the critical gate most founders skip:Seek → SolveBefore product–market fit… b...

After reviewing  400+ startup pitch decks  as part of global competitions, one pattern became clear: Most founders are pitching the wrong thing. They talk about product features… But investors are listening for something completely different. In this video, I break down the  4 things that actually make a startup pitch fundable  — based on real patterns seen across hundreds of founders. You’ll lear...

Most startup go-to-markets don’t fail because of bad products. They fail because founders try to do too much, too early — with no system. In this episode of The Growth Engine, Mike Parsons breaks down why GTMs fall apart — and how to fix it with a simple, repeatable framework. After working with early-stage founders across Adelaide, Sydney, and globally, one pattern keeps showing up:➡️ Build in is...

Before You Raise Funding: 10 Legal & Financial Fixes Every Startup NeedsRaising startup funding isn’t just about traction or pitch decks. Investors, acquirers, and enterprise customers will look deep into your legal structure and financial records. If those documents don’t align, confidence in the business quickly disappears. In this episode, Mike from Apollo walks through the 10 legal and fin...

What if your startup raised $2 million… hired a team… launched the product… and still didn’t have product-market fit? In this episode of The Growth Engine, Mike Parsons breaks down the case of a fictional AI startup that looks successful from the outside — strong founders, funding, and an exciting product. Recognising these core issues can inspire founders, product leaders, and investors to focus...

Fictitious AI looks like a dream startup. An ex-OpenAI researcher. A serial founder with exits. A strong product. Early traction and growing interest. And yet the company cannot execute consistently. Deadlines slip. Decisions bottleneck. Work depends on a few individuals. The team is busy, but progress feels fragile. This video breaks down a pattern seen in many startups: scaling failure caused no...

Episode 16 — The AI Startup That Loses Money Every Time You Use ItThis startup looks perfect. Customers love it. Usage is exploding. Investors would absolutely take the meeting. There’s just one problem: every time a customer uses the product, the company loses money. In this episode, Mike breaks down *Fictitious AI* — a fast-growing AI research assistant that replaces search and gives fully-cited...

Why do some companies grow every month… while others live deal-to-deal? Most founders think they have a growth problem. In reality, they have a system problem. Leads come in — then stop. Sales spike — then disappearMarketing is busy — but revenue isn’t predictable. In this episode of The Growth Engine, Mike Parsons breaks down the real reason startups plateau and shows you 15 practical tests you c...

Are We Building the Right Product? | Product Validation for Startups (15 Tests)Most startups don’t fail because they can’t build. They fail because they build the wrong thing—too confidently, for too long. In this episode of The Growth Engine, Mike Parsons breaks down 15 practical product-validation tests that remove guesswork from one of the hardest founder questions:“Is this product actually wan...

Most startups don’t fail because the product is bad. They fail because the business model breaks when growth begins. In this episode, Mike Parsons walks through  ProductBooks — Business Model Fit Evaluator , the third stage in the Fit Model series of free evaluators. It’s designed for founders who already have problem–solution fit and product–market fit, and now need to answer the harder question:...

Product-market fit is one of the most misunderstood — and most critical — milestones in building a successful startup. Many founders ship great products, but still struggle to answer the real question:  do customers actually want this, pay for it, and come back for more? In this episode, Mike Parsons introduces the  Product Market Fit Evaluator , a free AI tool designed for founders, CEOs, and ear...

Learn how to validate a startup idea in 5 minutes using AI and a proven problem–solution fit framework. In this episode of The B2B Growth Engine, Mike walks through a custom GPT that helps founders quickly assess whether a real, painful problem exists and whether the proposed solution is actually desired. The workflow guides you through your startup hypothesis, user interviews, current workarounds...

Most people assume B2B buying is rational and B2C buying is emotional. The data says the opposite. In this episode of The B2B Growth Engine , Mike Parsons breaks down a key Gartner insight showing that emotional connection plays an even bigger role in B2B purchasing than in B2C — especially when the buyer’s job, reputation, and risk exposure are on the line. To make this practical, Mike introduces...

In this episode, we break down the  11 greatest challenges in creating a growth strategy —the same structural blind spots that stall founders, GTM teams, and SaaS companies again and again. After building hundreds of GrowthBooks, I’ve seen these patterns across every industry: • Misdiagnosed bottlenecks • Incorrect ICPs • Weak value proposition proof • Overly broad segmentation • Leaky funnels • M...

In this episode, Mike Parsons dives into why messaging matters — and why unclear messaging can slow growth, lengthen sales cycles, and kill conversions. Mike shares research showing that unclear messaging can increase customer acquisition time by 40–60%, reduce conversion rates by 15–30%, and even double sales cycle duration. Clear communication, as HBR reports, is 152% more effective at driving c...

Nearly 42% of startups fail simply because they never achieve product–market fit. They build a product… but not for the right customer. In this episode, Mike Parsons unveils a free AI tool that helps founders, marketers, and advisors break this cycle — the Value Proposition Canvas GPT.This custom GPT transforms any Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) into a complete Strategyzer-style Value Proposition Ca...

In this episode, Mike Parsons dives into one of the most powerful levers in B2B growth — defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Using the free Ideal Customer Profile GPT by Apollo Advisors, you’ll see how to turn your market segmentation into a data-rich customer profile that instantly boosts focus and sales velocity. Mike walks through a live demo with Campfire, an AI-powered ERP startup, sh...

In this 5-minute walkthrough, Mike Parsons reveals how the Market Segmentation & Firmographics GPT helps founders and marketers instantly turn TAM/SAM/SOM data into actionable B2B segments — so you can target the right audiences and stop wasting ad spend. You’ll see how Mike uses the tool to segment a real SaaS case study (Camfire.ai) into five clear buyer cohorts — from “Digital-First Scaleup...

In this 5-minute walkthrough, Mike Parsons shows how Addressable Market Metrics GPT helps B2B founders and marketers calculate their TAM, SAM, and SOM in minutes — not days. Using a real-world example from Campfire.ai, Mike demonstrates how this free GPT automates the entire market sizing process with reliable data sources, smart assumptions, and clear reporting. No spreadsheets, no guesswork — ju...

In this episode, Mike Parsons unveils how the Executive Personality Analyzer by Apollo Advisors helps B2B founders, advisors, and sales pros build deeper connections — starting from the very first meeting. This Custom GPT takes a LinkedIn profile PDF and transforms it into a fact-based executive psychology brief, revealing your prospect’s leadership style, motivators, and communication patterns —...

Hey, it’s Mike from Apollo Advisors, and in this video, I’ll show you how to use Scan: B2B Marketing Funnel GPT — a free AI tool that helps you analyze and audit any B2B marketing funnel in just five minutes. Whether you’re a founder, CMO, or marketing strategist, this GPT gives you a complete, data-driven view of how a company performs across the Educate, Attract, Convert, and Hook stages of the...

Hey, I’m Mike from Apollo Advisors, and in this video, I’m going to show you how to save five hours of prospecting time using my free Company Snapshot GPT — an AI-powered prospect analysis and competitor research tool. Free GPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-ycR9JrPZv-company-snapshot If you’re in sales, business development, or marketing, this custom GPT will instantly research any company and produce...