Growth Limiting Assumptions

Two growth-limiting assumptions that you'll want to avoid:

1/ The people you're seeking to serve are well-informed, rational, independent, long-term choice-makers.

2/ Everyone is like you, knows what you know, wants what you want

Instead, assume the opposite is true. 👊

(this idea was inspired by my mentor, Seth Godin)

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is assuming buyers are "well-informed, rational, independent, long-term choice-makers" a growth-limiting mistake?

Because real buyer behavior rarely matches that idealized picture. Actual decisions are often influenced by emotion, incomplete information, and short-term pressures, none of which fit a purely rational model.

What's the risk of building marketing or messaging around a perfectly rational buyer?

Messaging built for an idealized, rational decision-maker often fails to connect with how people actually decide, missing the emotional and situational factors that genuinely drive real purchasing behavior.

Why is assuming "everyone is like you" a limiting assumption as well?

Because it projects personal knowledge, values, and preferences onto buyers who may not share them at all, leading to messaging and product decisions based on a false sense of shared perspective.

Why does assuming the opposite of both these assumptions actually serve growth better?

Because it forces genuine curiosity about how buyers actually think and decide, rather than relying on convenient but inaccurate assumptions that don't reflect real-world behavior and diversity of perspective.

Where does this framing of avoiding these two assumptions come from?

Inspired directly by Seth Godin, reflecting a broader marketing philosophy that challenges convenient assumptions about buyers in favor of a more honest, empathetic understanding of how people actually behave.