When Growth Becomes the Problem: Understanding Growth Debt

Fast growth is supposed to feel like momentum. But for many companies, it quietly turns into friction.

In this episode of How to Build a Growth System, Colin and Chris unpack the concept of growth debt — the organisational equivalent of technical debt — and why it may be costing scaling companies 20–30% of their revenue without anyone realising.

Starting with Stripe’s finding that a third of developer time is lost to technical debt, the conversation zooms out to show how similar dynamics play out across people, processes, systems, and culture. The result? Teams working harder than ever, yet delivering less. Strategy that looks great on slides but never quite lands. And organisations that slow down just as they try to accelerate.

Through a real-world SaaS case study, Chris explains how a well-intentioned attempt to speed up sales created cascading failures across customer success, marketing, onboarding, and data — a textbook example of growth debt compounding over time.

The episode explores:

1. What growth debt actually is (and why it’s more dangerous than technical debt)
2. How complexity, context switching, and tool sprawl erode performance
3. The warning signs leaders miss — from stalled strategy execution to rising churn
4. Why throwing more tools, people, or budget at the problem usually makes it worse
5. Practical ways to surface, measure, and start paying down growth debt before it becomes existential

The key takeaway? Sustainable growth isn’t about moving faster everywhere — it’s about knowing where to slow down, reducing complexity, and designing systems that still work when you double in size.

If you’ve ever felt like your organisation is running at full speed but getting nowhere, this episode will help you see why — and what to do next.