Solving the Growth Dilemma: How Brands Can Scale Without Losing Their Core
How do brands grow without losing the very customers that made them successful in the first place?
In this roundtable, we’re joined by Ryan Hamilton, award-winning marketing professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, coauthor of The Growth Dilemma, and branding advisor to companies like Walmart, FedEx, Visa, and Cigna. Ryan brings fresh insight (and a practical framework) to one of the trickiest challenges in business: how to scale your customer base without alienating your core.
Most successful brands begin by focusing on a very specific, often niche, customer segment. But eventually, growth demands expansion. And that's where the real dilemma begins. What happens when your new customers don’t look, think, or behave like your original ones? Worse, what happens when they clash?
Think Starbucks or Apple—brands that started with a passionate core but successfully expanded to mainstream appeal without losing their loyalists. Now think Budweiser—a brand that tried to reach a new segment and faced fierce backlash from its base. What separates success from disaster?
In this session, we’ll unpack:
Ryan’s concept of Customer Segment Relationship Management (CSRM)
A 4-part framework for diagnosing customer segment conflicts before they arise
Case studies of brands that scaled elegantly—and those that stumbled
Why some customer segments influence others, and what to do when they don’t mix
How brands can be intentional about the kind of value they offer: functional, emotional, or symbolic
If your company or product is at an inflection point, looking to scale, cross the chasm, or move beyond your early adopters, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.
Join us for an engaging, practical, and eye-opening session with Ryan Hamilton, one of the most highly rated marketing thinkers under 40 and co-host of the excellent podcast The Intuitive Customer.
Pre-Reading (Optional):
HBR article: “Attract New Customers Without Alienating Your Old Ones,” in the July-August 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review.
The book: The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things, by Annie Wilson and Ryan Hamilton, 2025, Havard Business Review Press.