40% of growth comes from this one thing

Micholus, thanks so much for having me. Very excited about this conversation.

sure, gladly. so a few words about who we are and what we do. we're really a growth consulting company, the new age growth consulting company. and fundamentally we help companies to build strategies, starting from deep understanding of the market, and then how do you execute against that? So ultimately we're answering you know, two questions, where to play, and how to win. So if you think about you know where to play, it's really challenging question. You really need to understand how the market operates, where growth is coming from, and really dissect it in small pieces. So to understand where exactly you wanna anchor, where you wanna wanna have your stronghold. And then well, how do you then win in this space? what are the key levers you need to be pulling to really drive market share in that d determined space for your anchor. now there are additional questions that come to it, right? Well what does it really mean for our PNL? And see the big challenge for organizations is to align CMO, CTO and CFO, you know, and create a platform to to really have productive conversations into line on the strategy and steps forward. So that's what we're designed to to do and that's what we'll help companies to to do. And now increasingly we're becoming a technology partner to actually execute against this strategy. Becoming a long-term partner to really enable that growth. So the relationship doesn't end with a deliverable of a platform or a DAC. It's it's really about, you know, how do we enable that growth going forward?

Hopefully that answers your question.

Yeah, look, I I I think that's where the whole market is going. the reality is the just the just the presentation, just the deck no longer cuts it. you really wanna leave your clients with an asset that they can be leveraging throughout the journey. And that that was the thinking. And we see you know inside startup popping up in this space increasingly that leveraging exactly that. we no longer I think the you know, delivering a segmentation as a static presentation that finishes with a debrief is no longer sufficient. You really want to create assets that can be leveraged going forward. and that's why we've decided to codify you know fifteen years of of my experience and my partner's experience to build something valuable for for our clients that they can keep using and leveraging on on their journeys, on their growth journeys.

That's a that's a great question. really a lot of our products are for CPG companies and FMCG companies. well we've we surpr to to our surprise, we're actually been doing a lot of work with agencies to really help them accelerate the the tech side and help them do consulting in in a new faster, more robust way. imagine Yeah, three years ago, to do a project say l let's take a generic strategy project. You you would need, you know, from six weeks to six months, right? An army of an analyst. whereas now things literally can be done, you know, overnight with higher rigor. And that's that's a very important point. So it's not about replacing human resources, it's about doing things at a higher quality with full transparency, right? so you know coming back to your question, you know, who are the who are the companies that we we operate, yeah, we we have e a portfolio of clients that work directly, but surprisingly a lot of our clients are are really agencies.

Yeah, look a AI was sort of a main catalyzator and enabler of liftov consulting. When when we started, which is more than two years ago, a a at a time, so maybe three years ago and at the the start of when we saw, you know, GPT one and GPT two, sort of these glimpse of how intelligence is gonna be transformed. Right. At a time these tools were not sufficient to do proper work, but a at the time it still became apparent that it's gonna be revolutionary. And the exponential nature of these things sort of kind of was a clear clue for us that look, the a lot of work that we're doing right now and the ways we're doing this were gonna evolve dramatically. so really AI and technology in general is a core of everything we do. and I've if if you know as a consultant I would spend you know fifty percent of my time or maybe you know seventy percent of my time building presentations so that'd be PowerPoint and then the the rest of the time would be sort of Excel and and modeling. well now fundamentally work off the terminal. Right. And that that's a very different way of working. when you have and it's it's very straining though, 'cause you have to continuously move from one thing to another, managing sort of a a group of agents, and agenda work. so it was certainly a learning journey and still is. and I think in in this world where things are moving so quickly, one thing that you've gotta be doing is to stay up to date with with everything that's happening. It's is it is challenging, right? It requires a lot of time and effort, but not only knowing but really leveraging effectively and finding the the right ways to do it. So yeah, to summarize, we use a particular set of software, a package, right? Now most of the work is off the terminal.

Well look, we're we're certainly building a plane as we fly it and I can't say we've we totally nailed marketing. we're we're a small team all the powered by hundreds of agents. it really most of the work comes through the connections we made during dur during our careers. And it's really word of mouth. it's a first circle and second circle especially. where we can be referred to and that's been that that's been working the the the most effectively. now but I certainly recognize that you know you not only need to be a a a good operator you you also need to have a marketing engine right that that enables that. And we're trying to to to get publicity as as we can. but I I don't think we've got this nailed, right? That's one of the next things to to get to the next level. Re to be out there and be top of mind. You know, it's funny 'cause I advise a lot of companies in terms of how to yeah what are the most important things to to drive growth. Right and really according to stats, forty percent of all growth enabled by being top of mind. Right. and the rest is about you know being different and then being meaningful, right? To create value and be be very differentiated or not very differentiated, but being differentiated from from the rest of the pack. So this is the combinations that really drive growth. But this forty percent of being top of mind is absolutely critical. to drive growth, would it be for B to B and B to C as well? and that's something we really need to be doing a lot more off. so we're we're on this journey figuring things out as as we as we go along.

Hundred percent, hundred percent. I couldn't agree more that there are these things that certainly cannot be neglected. and doing the good work is is not enough. you really need to be out there, you're building your profile and no matter how amazing work you're doing, it's a bit of a pointless it's a bit pointless if nobody knows about it, right? So

Ha ha.

Yeah, sure. So it it all comes back to what I've what I've said at the very beginning, right? First, let's understand you know where you want to play. And let's not try to boil the ocean. Let's identify absolutely critical pieces, you know, who are these people that that you're serving to? who are these people you're serving? and really understand in depth what functional and emotional needs they have. Who they are, what problems they have, right? And what are the specific things you can address to then create traction and build relationships with with with these specific people, right? That's where the segmentation, if if we're talking about a B2B, is a deeper understanding how the market is structured and really going to personality level, right? And that's a starting point. And interestingly, I I I've done a fair amount of consulting work with startups, and very often this part is sort of neglected. I think people think about marketing as, well, I wanna make a video and go viral, right? Or or partner with an influencer and a miracle happens and then, you know, a lot of people see you know, my brand. I I I think that's a very misleading sort of take on things. everything should start with clarity on who your target audience is and what problems they have, you know, really becoming them and then a addressing and finding the right channels and finding the right medium to really talk to these people. and the way you would approach them would very would be very different depending on who they really are. Right. For some type of audiences, you know, long term form content like podcasts would be most effective. For for others, it could be thought leadership and long read. for others it could be short term for content, right? So there's no size fits all and deeper understanding who you're talking to is absolutely fundamental foundational point that needs to be done right. And only then you can start building off that platform.

Yeah, look I I think we're all guilty of watching a lot of YouTube and this type of content. and the stories that pop up are sort of a success story, some sort of with a great element of luck, something happens and then you explode and you know, you experience this incredible growth. And these stories are cool and very exciting. right. and I think there's is is a very high chance to sort of really misunderstand how the market really works. There is this big underlying element of grinding and continuous work, that I think often gets neg neglected. Right. We we all love and miracle, we all inspired by these you know, one out of a million stories. and that sort of that really skews your perception of what it is really like. and you know to to your audience about the to your audience about what are the what are the lessons right that I I could share in in terms of the the journey of becoming of of a entrepreneur. I would say that you know you you have to be a little bit delusional to start a business to begin with. that that's a healthy degree of some delusion has to be there because really it is a challenging journey. it is a a roller coaster, emotional roller coaster and financial roller coaster. and certainly it's a growth journey. So you from from day one, you need to be prepared to grow as as as a person and growth is always uncomfortable. So you would you need to get comfortable with the idea that your journey is not gonna be comfortable.

that's a great question. Look, we we are increasingly becoming a technology partner for for businesses we we work with. so I originally it was all about just building a strategy. where is really the market is taking us to building these long term relationships where we can support that growth journey. and I really expect from us to you know double down on that side of things and build is these long term relationships with with more clients, to not only support them on strategy side, but but really being a tech partner and trusted advisor throughout their growth journey. really what we see that when our clients are successful, you know, we we therefore we'll be successful too. and you know really moving from just strategy to a full journey of growth, that that's an ambition. and you know we are at the moment we're a small team. I certainly wanna see Liftoff Consulting to attract exciting talent and build a team you know beyond just us and an army of AI agents but really work with bright individuals to to expand and grow. That's an ambition. and I think we've got everything we need to to make it happen.

sure. we're really open for conversations. you can find more about us on our website. It's leaf to dash off dot co dot uk. you can reach out directly via LinkedIn. I'm always open for conversations, so you can find me by my first and first name and my last name. and there are all sorts of ways to contact us via the website as well. So don't be shy, we're we're really open for kind of sessions. just reach out and let's have a talk.

Nicholas, thanks so much for having me. It was a pleasure.