Going public has warped how we talk about growth. And that’s a problem.

When brands like Peloton hit a ceiling, shareholders get pissed.

The assumption is that growth should ALWAYS continue, that demand can be endlessly expanded by adding buyers, spinoffs, or complexity.

That assumption is wrong for most physical products.

I have a client called Earth Apples. They sell colorful, truly amazing seed potatoes.

The parent company does well in the ag market, selling its many varieties to large-scale potato growers from Idaho to Prince Edward Island.

Years ago, we helped them introduce a retail version.

Beautiful, colorful boxes to emphasize what’s inside. Vent holes shaped like potatoes. A very real product constraint turned into an attractive, memorable design feature.

We expanded the market by expanding imagination.

Showing people how to grow potatoes on balconies and in small spaces.

Reframing spuds from “not a real vegetable” to the superfood they truly are.

Opening up bright, delicious new varieties most people had never seen, much less grown themselves.

The business launched 11 years ago. It is busy. Healthy. Profitable.

It is not a hockey stick, and never will be.

Exporting is super-complicated. These are seeds and a live, seasonal, perishable product that crosses borders under immense scrutiny and bruises easily. There are natural limits.

And (fortunately) there are no stakeholders demanding infinite scale.

Not every business ought to chase endless growth. Most should chase durability.

Others, relevance, meaning right-fit buyers only.

Others, a wider but finite audience.

Growth that respects physics, biology, logistics, and reality is not failure.

The danger is building strategies around investor fantasies instead of product truths.

Being insatiable is about the most stressful thing there is.

Want to make your product irresistible? That’s what we do as product marketing consultants at Graphos Product, helping innovators turn need-driven ideas into market-ready successes.