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Case studies
Growth engineering case studies from Louisville businesses.
Each one walked in looking like a marketing problem. Each one turned out to be something else. These case studies show what the real constraint was, what we built to fix it, and what happened, with the source for every number.
100+
employees at El Toro, from three co-founders in a basement
$1M+
TRIM NuLu revenue within two years of launch, per Square
12 weeks
from launch to the top organic result for “ghost tour louisville”
LOUISVILLE HISTORIC TOURS · CLIENT
From invisible to the top of search
2x+
sales, in the owner’s words, after the new site. First organic result for “ghost tour louisville” and named first in Google AI Overviews.
- Looked like
- A traffic problem
- Actually was
- A site search engines and AI could not read, and a booking path that lost customers
- What we built
- Website, a page for every tour, booking path, structured data and AI visibility
- Role
- Hunley Media, client engagement, 2026
TRIM NULU · TURNAROUND
Rebuilt a model COVID killed
$1M+
revenue within two years, 77% growth in the Salon Today 200, five straight Courier-Journal Best Hair Salon wins.
- Looked like
- A marketing problem
- Actually was
- A business model that no longer had a market
- What we built
- A destination salon, service menu, card-secured booking, retention, referral and paid media
- Role
- Sean led the rebuild as CEO, 2020 to early 2026
EL TORO · AD TECH
Built a company from a basement
100+
employees, No. 13 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 in North America, 2017.
- Looked like
- A lead generation problem
- Actually was
- Buyers could not picture a technology they had never heard of
- What we built
- Plain-language messaging, a repeatable sales process, pipeline and a sales team
- Role
- Sean co-founded El Toro and led sales for its first eight years
The pattern
What these case studies have in common
None of these businesses needed more of what they were being sold. A salon owner told to buy more ads needed a new model. A tour company told it needed more traffic was losing the visitors it already had at the booking step. A tech company told to generate more leads needed buyers to understand what they were buying.
That is the job of growth engineering: find the one constraint actually limiting revenue, then build the fix inside the business instead of selling a service around it.
How we report results
- Numbers come from third parties where possible: Square, Salon Today, Inc., Deloitte and the Courier-Journal, linked on each case study.
- Search results are shown as dated screenshots, because rankings and AI answers change.
- Our role is stated plainly on every case study: client engagement, or a company Sean ran or co-founded.
Your business
What is holding your business back?
Every case study above started with finding the real constraint. A 30-Day Diagnosis does that for your business, with the first fix already underway. Or start smaller with a $1,500 audit.