The obstacles you can’t get past often point to assets you haven’t recognised. That sounds counterintuitive, so let me give you an example.
A COO complained that a salesperson was giving key customers the direct numbers of developers to fix problems. He saw it as wasted time and a broken process. The CEO saw it differently: customers valued that access almost more than the product. They packaged it, and it became a premium service.
This pattern is important because it’s a popular idea these days that growth REQUIRES transformation. Often, it doesn’t.
In fact, seeking a transformation could be a big distraction. It could be what I called, in Start With What Works, a Saviour Solution: tempting, seductive, what everyone else is supposedly doing, but actually a slower and riskier path than you might think.
Faster, safer growth often comes from recognising and recombining what is already working.
Consider Basecamp (aka 37 Signals). The founders built project management software to coordinate their internal work while developing other applications. Then they noticed something important: the tool they had created was more valuable than the products they had originally set out to build. That internal solution became Basecamp, and for many years it became the company itself.
The lesson is not about software. It is about paying attention to what actually works (not just what’s supposed to work), recognising hidden assets created while solving your own problems, and noticing when an internal solution is more valuable than the original strategy.
When you can’t see a path to growth, it can be tempting to go for a utopian ‘transformation.’ But while you scan for a Saviour through a telescope, you may be missing breakthrough assets under your nose.
So don’t start by assuming you need a Saviour – start with what works. You may find you are already closer to growth than you think.
Read the first chapter of Start With What Works for free – works/https://bassclusker.com/start-with-what-works/
© Andy Bass 2026