WHAT TRACTION LOOKS LIKE: A FIELD GUIDE FOR FOUNDER

The most important signals aren’t always on your dashboard - but they’re always in the business. By Roselyn Uleh, Co-founder Strivify brand Studio

Traction is one of the most overused - and misunderstood - terms in early-stage business building. Investors want to see it, founders want to prove it, and headlines love to celebrate it. But ask five people to define it, and you’ll get five different answers.

Some will point to revenue. Others to growth charts. A waitlist. A viral moment. All valid, all visible.

But the kind of traction that matters most - the kind that leads to sustainable growth, customer retention, and brand longevity - is often harder to spot. Not because it’s abstract, but because it doesn’t always present itself in metrics. It shows up in momentum. In repeat behaviour. In how your business starts running with a level of consistency that’s hard to fake.

And once you understand how to recognise that kind of traction, you can start to build around it with precision.

Early signals of real traction aren’t always loud - but they’re rarely accidental.

The first signs often show up in repeatable patterns. Customers return without retargeting. New clients come through referrals instead of paid ads. People start describing your offer clearly - often more clearly than your own copy. They ask deeper questions. They use their own words to articulate your value.

These are operational signals. Brand signals. Product-market-fit signals. And if you’re not paying attention, you might miss them - especially if you’re measuring success through the wrong lens.

I’ve seen this up close with founders we work with at Strivify. The assumption is always that traction needs to be loud - more press, more clicks, more followers. But often, the strongest indicators show up in how predictably a customer behaves, how easily a sale closes, how consistently someone comes back.

The goal isn't noise. The goal is evidence.

What early-stage traction actually looks like

Forget the hype for a moment. Here’s what real, practical traction looks like when you strip it back:

• Unprompted referrals: Someone recommends you without being asked. That’s retention and acquisition working in tandem.

• Repeat purchasing: Not just a sale, but a cycle. People come back because the value was clear - and delivered.

• Efficient decision-making from prospects: Your pitch doesn’t need over-explaining. There’s clarity.

• Customer language mirrors your brand values: They describe what you do the way you intended. Alignment is working.

• Organic demand that exceeds your push efforts: There’s pull. You’re no longer chasing every sale.

These are the things founders should be tracking. Not because they sound good in a pitch deck - but because they’re real indicators of something working under the surface. Traction, when built correctly, is the outcome of repeatable, value-driven interactions.

If traction isn’t visible yet, look operationally.

If you're not seeing traction in the obvious places, don’t assume it isn’t there - look operationally.

• Are your internal systems holding you back from growth?

• Is your positioning too vague, forcing you to resell yourself every time?

• Is your pricing aligned with perceived value - or are you consistently discounting to convert?

• Are your touchpoints - site, socials, email, onboarding - consistent and intentional?

Traction is not just about demand. It’s also about how easily your business can handle that demand. Operational readiness is traction’s silent partner.

Traction is repeatability, not hype

Let’s be clear. The goal of traction isn’t to look successful - it’s to operate successfully.

Can you replicate the sale?

Can you deliver at scale without compromising on quality?

Can your business model support growth without breaking?

That’s traction. Anything else is theatre.

Use this as a founder: a few strategic takeaways

If you're evaluating traction today - maybe for an investor, or just for your own sanity - ask yourself:

• What behaviour keeps repeating? Not the anomalies. The consistencies.

• Where’s the friction? Traction doesn’t mean easy. It means known. Is your process working?

• Is the feedback clear? Vague compliments don’t count. Specific testimonials, referrals, repeat business - those do.

• Are we growing by design or by accident? If you can’t answer this, it’s time to pause and reassess.

Traction is pattern recognition. Your job is to spot the patterns early and build infrastructure that supports them - before you scale beyond them.

Final thought

We tend to treat traction like a finish line - something to announce. But in reality, it’s just the first checkpoint. It’s not proof of arrival. It’s proof of concept.

It tells you: This is working. Do more of this. Make it stronger. Build around it.

And once you can see traction for what it actually is - not hype, but health - you can use it as your growth engine, not just your headline.

Because the real power of traction isn’t that it looks good.It’s that it keeps showing up.

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Roselyn Uleh is the co-founder of Strivify Brand Studio, where she helps founders turn clarity into growth through people-first strategy, digital systems, and modern brand thinking. She was recently named Digital Champion of the Year for her work blending automation, AI, and customer experience to drive meaningful business impact.

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