What I’ve Learned About Growth (The Hard Way)
A lot of companies overcomplicate growth. They throw money at more sales hires, fancy software, a new marketing firm, and expensive consultants. Usually hoping for a quick fix.
But I built a revenue business on $50 a month. (That's right 5-0) And what I learned in that process is exactly what I help my clients do:
Cut the waste.
Align their teams.
Fix the foundation before scaling.
Because if you scale a broken system, you scale the problems too.
What You'll Get in This Post
The real reason companies struggle to scale revenue (asales hiring isn’t the quick fix)
How I built my business lean, and how you can apply the same principles to your revenue strategy
How alignment across sales, marketing, and operations unlocks real growth
The biggest mistakes companies make in sales growth (and what to do instead)
Believe it or not, I never meant to build this.
I left my corporate career completely burned out. After my long-time employer sold his business mid-Covid there were a number of reasons why I didn't get a similar job, but those are all stories for another day. If you want to skip this story too, you can jump right to what this has to do with you.
What followed was a series of misadventures that led me to believe it was my turn to join my family of entrepreneurs and strike out on my own. I opened up a local e-bike shop. The dream was simple: own a business I could run with my family, spend more time outside, and build a community.
Only problem? I spent all my time inside the shop.
I started missing the challenges of leadership, and I was shocked that I missed corporate life. Tradeshows, growth strategies, sales coaching, all of it. My dad, grand parents, most of my uncles and my great grandmother might love the local business life, but I guess I'm a corporate person!
So, I reached out to my former employer, a sales coaching firm I’d worked with, thinking I’d step back into that world. Even just part time or during the slow season.
They ghosted me.
That’s when it hit me: I don’t need them. I built a local B2C business, personal brand and community around my shop. By myself. And way outside of my B2B wheelhouse. I already knew I could help growth-stage businesses because I built a career on that. And now I knew that I could build my own practice, play to my strengths.
And that’s how Rise of Us was born.
Except, I didn’t start the way most consultants do. I didn’t drop thousands on branding, a fancy website, or high-end software. I built this business lean. Just what's in my brain and a $50/month tech stack. A solid combo of AI tools, freeware, and an absolute refusal to waste time or money on things that didn’t move the needle.
Key Takeaway: Revenue isn’t about throwing money at the problem—it’s about fixing the foundation first
What Does This Have to Do With You?
If you’re a growth-stage founder or CEO, you probably don’t have a revenue problem—you have an alignment problem. Your sales, marketing, and operations teams aren’t working together. So instead of a clear, repeatable sales process, you’re stuck with:
Sales teams blaming marketing for bad leads.
Marketing teams frustrated that sales ignores their efforts.
Operations overwhelmed by what’s being sold.
Tech stacks no one fully uses.
Revenue that should be higher than it is.
This isn’t just about “selling more.” It’s about building a system that scales.
I once worked with a client who had been ready to double their growth organically, so what did the CEO do? You guessed it, they doubled the size of the sales team. They brought me in when that plan didn't work - unfortunately the result he got was a doubled sales budget, with virtually the same sales. When I pulled back the curtain, we found misaligned leadership, outdated and manual processes, and plenty of barriers in the sales process. We focused on addressing those challenges while also allowing the team to right-size. We grew the revenue year over year, and the remaining salespeople started making a lot more money.
Happy CEO + happy sales folks = a recipe for success!
I built my business the way I run revenue teams, by focusing on efficiency, clarity, and execution. That’s why I don’t just help companies “sell more.” I help them align sales, marketing, and operations so growth is actually scalable.
How I Launched for Just $50/Month
I didn’t have venture funding. And frankly, I had spent my "start a business" fund on that bike shop that didn't work out. I didn’t take out a business loan. I wasn't interested in investing a large amount of money again. I didn't want to pull equity out of my home.
And with some of the tools I had used at the bike shop, I came to realize that a home-based business could be run with very little overhead.
I also didn’t sit around waiting for everything to be perfect.
Instead, I focused on execution over perfection. Get it good enough, launch, get feedback, tweak as needed. Lather, rinse and repeat.
And since that startup overhead seems impossibly lean, I'll show you:
Design.com (free tool) – Business Name Generator - you tell is what you do and it generates names.
Coolors (free tool) – Color Palette Generator
Wix – Website, CRM, blog platform, email marketing, marketing automations. I opted for the Premium plan at $30/month, but anyone who doesn't mind "powered by Wix" on their website can use the free version. I used this for my shop and knew the investment was worth it.
ChatGPT – AI-powered planning & content refinement. I opted for the premium plan at $20/month. I used this at my shop and also knew the investment was worth it. For anyone OK with limited access and the "older" model, the free version would work fine.
Other Fee tools: Google (free version) – Free email, docs, and drive, Canva (Free Plan) – Branding & visuals, LinkedIn (Organic Posting) – The foundation of my outreach, Pexels, Unsplash, Giphy (free tools) – images and GIFs
Could I have launched for $0? Honestly, yes. If I had stuck to free tools, I could’ve done it without spending a dime. But, this was never about cutting corners, it was about avoiding waste. And that’s the same approach I take with my clients.
I've been in business a year and my tech stack has grown quite a bit. I could tell you all the other tools I have used and tried, but that feels like a post for another day.
The Hardest Part? Knowing I Needed Help.
My original plan? Fractional Sales Leadership
When I was coaching, those were my favorite assignments. I didn't just coach. I didn't just consult. I did both, and also helped with execution. It's when I knew I brought the most value. I was good at it and it was fun. I started out looking at fractional marketplaces or firms that would market me for a share of revenue. Let me tell you, those places are crowded! I could spend the rest of my career in a perpetual competitive job search or... using the entrepreneurial chops I got running my last business, I could do my own thing.
About 6 months I had proof of concept, a couple recurring assignments and a couple of projects. The good news is that I was able to market myself and was getting people reaching out.
The challenging news was that people were reaching out with all kinds of random things, and more often than not, they wanted to drive the process. You don't get your money's worth if you put someone like me in a doer role.
And this is when I realized I had a messaging and a positioning problem.
So I hired that advisor and pivoted. He helped me define my superpower and differentiate myself from the myriad fractional leaders that have cropped up over the last five years. Fractional sales leadership and sales coaching moved to the background. Removing barriers to repeatable revenue growth became the core focus.
And that shift? It changed everything.
Early on I worked with a client who had a great sales team and a great marketing team. The challenge shouldn't come as a big surprise - they weren't working together. The marketing content didn't resonate with the sales team or the buyers, so sales didn't use it. They spent time writing long emails and complained a lot about "junk" leads. The marketing team was tracking all the leads they generated and pointed the finger at sales. Revenue stagnation wasn't marketing's fault - not only did the sales team not use their stuff, they also never followed up on all the great leads.
Long story short, I worked with the CEO to get the sales and marketing leaders aligned on some shared goals, agreed upon definitions of what qualified leads look like, and a clear understanding of why people buy and why they don't buy.
We have more leads coming in, higher quality leads, increasing sales, and most importantly - less infighting and finger-pointing!
How This Ties Back to Your B2B Revenue Growth
Too many companies waste months and thousands of dollars on sales training, hiring, or tech before fixing their actual revenue engine. I built Rise of Us lean because I knew the core problem I was solving.
If you’re struggling to scale or experiencing revenue stagnation, I can almost guarantee you’re dealing with one (or more) of these:
Hiring sales teams before fixing broken processes
Spending on expensive software that no one actually uses
Wasting thousands on marketing without a real strategy
Expecting a “big personality” sales hire to magically fix revenue
Bringing in a coach or consultant before looking internally
What you actually need is:
A repeatable sales process
A clear ICP & buying journey
Alignment across leadership, sales, and marketing
And this is where so many B2B companies get stuck. If your sales team is struggling, it’s usually not because they’re bad at selling. It’s because they’re trying to sell in a system that’s broken.
I once worked with a client who had been struggling for a few years, and after a hard talk with an investor who threatened to pull the plug, they hired a sales coach. With the directive that they had been give 30 days to right the ship. They had a salesperson with great relationship-building chops - a nurturer, not a hunter. The challenge was that the marketing wasn't aligned with the sales process or what buyers needed - random acts of marketing and a lot of fluff. Another challenge was that sales and operations worked completely siloed - the salesperson had no idea what client success looked like. There was also no referral or partner initiatives and they had already sold to anyone in the owner's network who was willing to buy. They had also exhausted all the leads in the CRM so there was no low-hanging fruit. My assignment? Coach the salesperson so she can do cold outreach and fix our revenue problem in 30 days.
A. they waited way too long to get help. and
B. their problems were much deeper than sales coaching could fix.
They needed alignment across the organization and they needed a multi-faceted revenue growth strategy. It took less than 2 weeks to show that there was no alignment between their expectations and my reality.
One of the foundational reasons why I don't only do sales coaching.
The Founder’s Mindset: What Sets me Apart
And as a 3x founder, I know all too well what it feels like to have payroll due and wonder if you should hold up a bank or sell a kidney. Or to try all the things you or your business friends can think of to help your growth, only to feel like you're going nowhere quickly. And as the business owner, you've got your personal savings and professional reputation at stake.
It's why I am determined to bring you the most value that I can.
Who Needs to Hear This?
This post is for:
The B2B founder trying to scale sales without burning cash.
The self-funded CEO who knows their sales process is messy.
The Revenue leader who’s frustrated because marketing & sales aren’t on the same page.
The operator who sees the chaos inside their company but doesn’t know how to fix it.
If that’s you, hear me loud and clear:
You don’t need more sales reps. You don't need a new sales coach. You don't need a consultant with a 90-day plan. You don’t need to a fancy new tool. And you don’t need a new playbook - you need to fix your foundation.
And that’s what I do.
What’s Next?
This isn’t just a one-year celebration or a humble brag about my super efficient build. It’s a call to action for companies who are ready to fix their revenue engine.
Thinking about scaling your sales process? Let’s audit your alignment gaps.
Want to start lean? Let’s cut the fat and fix what’s actually broken.
Need a better revenue strategy?
I built Rise of Us with $50, AI tools, and experience, but more than anything, I built it because I could build on my own terms and do what I do best - grow businesses!
And if you have that belief too? You can build something incredible.
If your sales & marketing teams aren’t working together or your pipeline isn’t as strong as it could be, let’s align your teams and accelerate growth. Book time to chat and I'll tell you if I can help.
Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $3MM - $10MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.
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