Plain-language thinking on measurement, attribution, and capital-efficient growth.

Attribution models don't measure which marketing channels caused a sale — they only assign credit based on which channels were present. Last-touch, multi-touch, and platform-reported ROAS all overstate performance in structurally predictable ways. The result is that most B2B companies systematically over-invest in performance channels and under-invest in brand — making growth progressively more expensive every quarter.

Incrementality measures what your marketing actually caused — not what it coincided with. It answers the question attribution never asks: would that customer have converted anyway? By comparing outcomes between a group exposed to your marketing and a control group that wasn't, incrementality testing isolates the true causal impact of a campaign, channel, or budget decision.

Most B2B companies calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC) using attribution data — which means the inputs are structurally flawed before the formula is even applied. When attribution overcredits bottom-funnel channels and ignores brand investment, channel-level CAC looks artificially low, blended efficiency looks better than it is, and every downstream decision built on that number — budget allocation, headcount justification, board forecasts — inherits the error.

The industry forces you to pick brand or performance. The capital-efficient companies aren't choosing — they're connecting both.