Let’s Go Growth Hunting

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When leaders talk about growth, the conversation usually follows one of two familiar paths:

• Better: How do we grow our core? How do we attract more customers, increase sales, take market share from competitors?
• New: How do we disrupt the market? What new approaches, product leaps, technologies, or business models can we invent?

Those are reasonable questions. But they assume growth comes from doing more of what the business already does or abandoning the old for the new.

What if there’s another way?

I’ve been thinking about an approach we might call growth hunting: deliberately searching for opportunities big or small, to increase revenue, improve profitability, and create greater value from the business you already have.

In my experience, asking people to think of “radical innovations” does not evoke radical thinking. Asking people to come up with “adjacent” innovations does not direct them closer to home. Categorizing the type of innovation may help us select ideas but is of no use in generating ideas.

And yet, corporations launch “radical ideation” efforts and set up “moon shot” organizations or “process improvement” ideathons. And what do they lead to? Well, you get what you ask for: incremental ideas that improve what we are already doing or disruptive ideas that challenge what we have been doing.

If, instead, we activate growth hunting throughout our organization, without asking for “better” or “new” ideas, we can extricate ourselves from the false choice. A new class of ideas starts filling our portfolio that does not fit either category. I think of these as additive: something new you introduce to your business that makes the whole enterprise stronger.

It might be a new service, a subscription model, a complementary capability, or even an acquisition. The key is that the addition doesn’t simply generate more revenue. It builds on and strengthens what you already do well.

Consider two companies that have done just that.

What Nuuly Saw

​Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN)​ built its business selling clothing through brands like ​Anthropologie​, ​Free People​, and ​Urban Outfitters​.

But what happens when customers love fashion without wanting to own everything they wear?

Rather than simply competing harder for clothing purchases, the company created ​Nuuly​, a subscription service that allows customers to rent clothing from its brands and others.

In its fiscal year ending January 2026, Nuuly generated approximately $568 million in revenue, growing more than 50% from the prior year. And because the market tends to apply a higher multiple on organic growth v. acquired, URBN stock price has improved disproportionally: from Nuuly’s launch in FY 2020 to today, the stock price more than doubled to $63 from $28.

What interests me isn’t simply that URBN entered the rental market. It’s that the company recognized an opportunity to use its existing knowledge of fashion, brands, and customers to serve the core need of its customers with a different delivery model (rental).

Instead of asking how to sell more clothes, it asked how else customers might want to experience them.

That’s additive growth.

Enterprise Saw More Than Rental Cars

Most of us know ​Enterprise Mobility​ as a rental car company. But look more closely, and you’ll find a much broader business.

Enterprise manages vehicle fleets for companies, sells used cars, provides truck rentals, operates car-sharing programs, and, through its ​Commute with Enterprise​ program, helps employers organize commuter transportation.

These businesses serve different needs, but they share something important: Enterprise’s knowledge of vehicles, infrastructure, fleet operations, and customer mobility.

Each addition creates another opportunity to generate value from capabilities the company already possesses.

That market acceptance is already clear: today, Enterprise says over 60,000 commuters across 1,500 corporate worksites and 100 regional transit authorities rely on Commute with Enterprise to get to work every day.

Adding more services doesn’t automatically improve profitability. But when new businesses leverage existing resources, relationships, and expertise, they can generate additional revenue without recreating every capability from scratch.

That’s the distinction between adding complexity and adding value.

Not All Growth Is Created Equal

Imagine a company generating $100 million in annual revenue with a 10% operating profit margin. That’s $10 million in operating profit.

Its leadership team identifies two growth opportunities.

The first could generate an additional $20 million in revenue. Impressive. But because it requires substantial new infrastructure and staffing, its incremental operating margin would be just 5%.

That’s $1 million in additional annual operating profit.

The second opportunity is smaller. It could add just $8 million in revenue. But it leverages existing distribution, customers, and technology. At a 25% incremental operating margin, it would generate $2 million in additional operating profit.

The smaller opportunity delivers twice the incremental operating profit.

Of course, investment requirements, risks, and long-term potential also matter. But the point is clear: The opportunity with the greatest revenue potential isn’t necessarily the one that creates the most value.

Growth hunting isn’t about finding every possible way to expand. It’s about finding opportunities that strengthen the economics of your business.

How to Hunt for Additive Growth

The challenge isn’t simply coming up with new ideas. Most companies have plenty of those.

The challenge is to extricate yourself from the “better” v. “new” choice mental trap and search until you find additions that improve both.

That requires looking beyond your current products and services to understand what customers need, what capabilities you may be underutilizing, and where new opportunities could create profitable growth.

Try putting potential opportunities through what I call the Additive Advantage Test:

1. Does it expand customer value?

• What do customers need before, during, or after buying from you?
• What problems are they still solving elsewhere?

Nuuly recognized that some customers wanted access to fashion without the commitment of ownership.

Look for something that solves an unmet need or gives customers a new reason to engage with your business.

2. Does it leverage an existing advantage?

• What do you already own, know, or do exceptionally well?
• How could that capability support something new?

Enterprise built on its experience managing vehicles, customer relationships, and operational infrastructure.

The strongest additives make existing capabilities more valuable rather than requiring entirely new ones.

3. Does it have tailwinds?

• What new trends (technologies, regulations, customer behaviors) are underway that are making pursuing this opportunity easier?
• Are you early to the game (or have others already been building in front of this tailwind)?

Enterprise saw that the growing cost of carbon emissions would motivate municipalities to support van pools. URBN saw that supply chain disruptions combined with the growing customer preference for sustainable clothing would make a model in which clothing is reused and circulated between customers more competitive than the standard shift from a purchase, wear, and throw away fast-fashion model.

4. Does it improve the economics?

• Would launching an additive improve the cost structure and/or operations of your current core business (e.g., by sharing existing costs, creating recurring revenue, or improving margins)?
• Does your current core business give the new one a competitive advantage?
• What investment would it require and how long would it take to reach profitability?

More sales don’t necessarily mean more value. Look for opportunities that deliver attractive returns without disproportionate costs or complexity.

An additive that passes all three tests deserves a closer look.

What’s Hiding in Your Business?

Growth hunting requires a different kind of curiosity.

Instead of looking only at how to improve your existing business, look at what could make that business more valuable.

What capability could you extend? What customer need could you serve? What complementary service, partnership, or acquisition could change the economics of what you already do?

Your next growth opportunity may not require you to abandon your core business.

It may simply require you to see what belongs beside it.

Join Outthinker to uncover new growth opportunities, challenge conventional thinking, and turn strategic insights into profitable growth.