The Go-Go phase
Every business, at some point, enters what Ichak Adizes calls the “Go-Go” phase.
This is the stage where things start working. You get clients, revenue grows, and opportunities appear everywhere. But with that growth comes chaos. You say yes to everything. You try to do more, faster. And very quickly, the business becomes reactive instead of structured. This is where many entrepreneurs get stuck. Not because they are failing, but because they are growing without control.
Understanding this phase is critical. If you want to go deeper into it, the book Corporate Lifecycles by Ichak Adizes explains how businesses evolve and where most of them break.
Marketing is not optional
In the days when digital world was separated from physical, businesses relied on referrals, networkking, outbound sales, or simply pure momentum. But that aproach only works for a limited ammount of time. In todays world, marketing is not something you “add later”. It is a core part of building a business from the start.
Attention is limited – competition is constant. If people don’t see you in digital media, they don’t know you exist. Marketing is what connects your product to the market and puts you on the front shelf. It shapes how people sees you, trust you, and decide to buy from you.
If you want to understand the fundamentals properly, Principles of Marketing by Philip Kotler is still one of the most relevant books today, because the fundamentals have not changed.
What has changed is speed and platforms that you use to communicate with the target audience. Today, marketing happens fast and more often, across more channels than ever before, so ignoring it is no longer an option as it used to be. Even smallest business nowdays are in need of digital marketing and brand book.
