Episode #202: John Connolly – Make your growth story hold up in investor diligence
How to present growth so it is defensible, measurable, and scalable.
For founders raising and operators building board-ready growth reporting.
John Connolly is a Managing Director at Spectrum Equity, and he explains what he expects to see when a company tells a growth story at the growth equity stage. You cover why founders often stop at simplified metrics instead of going deep on channels, cohorts, and what is actually repeatable. John breaks down two common issues he sees in diligence: when each incremental dollar stops working, and when teams blend organic and paid in a way that hides what is driving performance. He also shares Spectrum’s framing for evaluation: identify what makes the company special, then isolate the few growth drivers that truly move the business.
WHAT YOU’LL HEAR
How Spectrum pressure-tests whether growth is durable, not just up and to the right
How to separate organic and paid so you can explain what is really working
What breaks when incremental spend hits diminishing returns, and why teams miss it
A practical way to focus your story: the “special thing” plus a short list of real growth drivers
