In the movie "Moneyball", haggard, washed-up baseball manager Brad Pitt has an underfunded team whose best players have left the team. After trying to make a number of desperate trades he runs into a nerd who tells him "everyone else has it all wrong… stop trying to get superstars and just get people who can get on base".

He hires the nerd, puts his plan in place, and wins the pennant.

If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, well, I may have oversimplified a bit, but that's about it.

When the movie came out, the startup world all started talking about Moneyball and using it as a verb ("you gotta Moneyball that thang!"). It got really annoying and obnoxious. But the concept is right.

Here's the secret to building a successful business: First, build a customer acquisition engine.

If the business relies on you to use your charm, wit, passion, 80-hour work weeks, good looks, industry knowledge, etc. to get new customers, you will quickly become a liability. You don't just want to get new customers - you want to build an engine that gets new customers.

There can be a strong temptation to always "swing for the fence" when working on customer development. We all want to do awesome stuff, create epic things, and see massive growth in our startup (home run!). However, a proven, systematic approach to growth (singles and doubles) that is sustainable, repeatable, and predictable is money(ball) in the bank!

For each program you are going to implement, ask yourself these two questions:

1. If we keep doing this, will we continue to get the same results indefinitely?

2. Could I automate (or teach someone else without my knowledge, passion, and vested interest in success) to do this repeatedly?

If the answer is "yes" to each of these, you may have found a sustainable growth program. The last question you'll need to answer, after implementing the program, is:

3. Is this program profitable (does it generate more revenue than expense)?

Getting all three of these right is the ultimate goal to scalable customer growth. If you can create more than one program that meets these three criteria, you have become a fundable startup.

Keep these three questions in mind whenever you implement a new program. Work to get to "yes" on all three and you will have mastered growth. You will not only meet your objectives, but will have created a growth engine that will be able to keep running when you move on to other aspects of your business.