He Was About to Pay Double for the Wrong Problem

He was about to pay double for beautiful storytelling when his real problem was that nobody could find him.

A friend was choosing a web agency for his company: one design-forward and twice the price, one more technical, one small and scrappy. He leaned toward the expensive design agency. His reasoning: "I don't want a website that just scrolls. They need to bring the story to life."

That's a real instinct. It's also incomplete.

Here's the framework I use for exactly this decision. I call it GOH: Goals, Obstacles, Hypothesis. An agency, a vendor, any spend of time or money, is a hypothesis for overcoming a specific obstacle in the way of a specific goal. It's not a purchase. It's a bet.

So we talked through his actual goals. He said discovery mattered more than ever, with people searching more and prospecting less. I asked him to describe his own company in a search engine. I came up with three different ways his customers might search for him. His site didn't show up on page one for any of them.

What I've found helps before picking an agency, a vendor, or any expensive hypothesis: write down the actual obstacle standing between you and the goal, then ask whether the option you're leaning toward solves that obstacle, or just looks good doing something else.

Beautiful storytelling is a fine hypothesis. Just make sure the obstacle isn't that nobody can find you. What's your next big spend actually a bet on?