Founders are builders at heart. You see opportunities everywhere - new features, new markets, trends that are accelerating, bandwagons to jump on. Every idea feels like a good one. But here’s the hard truth: not every shoot should grow.
Like a bonsai tree, a start-up’s survival depends on deliberate pruning. You must choose what to nurture and what to cut, even when those “branches” feel like part of yourself.
The Trunk: Protecting Your Core
In bonsai, the trunk comes first. It’s the spine of the tree, the element that determines its strength, stability, and shape. For your start-up, the trunk is your core value proposition and the primary personas that it serves.
When you’re tempted to launch spin-off products, chase a new audience, or spread your marketing thin across too many channels, remember: if the trunk isn’t strong, no branch will survive.
The Roots: Anchoring Your Purpose
Hidden beneath the soil, roots nourish the tree and keep it anchored. Your “roots” are your mission, values, and brand promise. If your marketing doesn’t consistently draw from this foundation, growth above ground will always be fragile.
Early marketing should spread and deepen those roots. I could probably extend this metaphor to talk about the need to repot, but that comes later.
The Pain of Pruning
As a founder, pruning feels personal. Each idea, product extension, or campaign often comes from your vision. It’s not just a “branch,” it’s your branch. Cutting it away can feel like cutting off a limb.
But just as a bonsai artist prunes healthy shoots to shape the tree’s future, you must prune good ideas to protect the best ones. Saying no isn’t failure, it’s discipline in service of longevity.
It’s not lack of intelligence or vision. It’s that you’re emotionally invested. Every shoot represents time, energy, and imagination. That makes it incredibly hard to step back and ask: “Is this branch serving the trunk, or stealing from it?”
The Pitch - The Case for a Fractional CMO
Unlike the founder, a Fractional CMO isn’t emotionally tied to every branch of the tree. They can see the bigger picture, align marketing efforts with the strongest growth path, and apply the discipline of pruning with objectivity.
A good Fractional CMO helps ensure that your marketing energy, your “nutrients”, flow from the roots to the trunk and to the prioritised branches that will bud and bear fruit. A Fractional CMO will protect you from letting all offshoots grow wildly.
A thriving bonsai tree isn’t the product of unchecked growth, it’s the result of vision, patience, and pruning. Your start-up is no different.
As a founder, it’s natural to want to let every idea bloom. But survival depends on discipline: focusing on the trunk, deepening the roots, and cutting branches that don’t serve your future.
Pruning is hard. But you don’t have to do it alone. With the guidance of a Fractional CMO, you can shape your start-up’s growth in line with a plan and build a business that’s not just alive, but thriving for the long term.