Scaling your startup is a critical phase of the entrepreneurial journey, where the right strategic decisions can create sustainable growth and long-term success. However, the complexities of moving from startup to scale-up can be daunting without the right support.
Let’s explore how you can scale your startup effectively. We’ll delve into the key strategic elements that drive growth in this next phase of your business.
What’s the Difference Between a Startup and a Scale-Up?
While startups and scale-ups share similarities, they represent different stages of business growth. Early-stage startups, for example, are usually focused on validating the business idea, building a minimum viable product (MVP) and finding product-market fit. These startups are looking to disrupt their market and solve a specific problem. They’re often characterized by a smaller team, limited resources and a high level of uncertainty and experimentation.
A scale-up is a business that has successfully moved past the startup phase and is experiencing rapid growth. Scale-ups have a validated business model, an established customer base and a clear path to profitability. Additionally, scale-ups often have a larger team, more resources and a foothold in their market.
Another difference between startups and scale-ups is how they seek growth. Startups may not initially prioritize profitability (or even revenue) as they build a team or develop their MVP. Scale-ups are more mature in this regard — they focus on scaling operations, expanding market reach and increasing revenue. Scale-ups often require a different set of skills and strategies than startups, especially as they face new challenges related to managing growth and maintaining culture.
5 Challenges to Scaling a Business
Scaling a business often means a new set of challenges for entrepreneurs and other business owners. Here are five challenges, along with ideas to overcome them.
Inspiring Others to Lead
One significant challenge in scaling a business is empowering others to lead. This step requires founders to build a strong leadership team, delegate more responsibilities and foster a culture of empowerment.
One way to empower your employees is to focus on training and knowledge transfer. “Instead of being a leader and creating followers, the goal is to create a leader that creates more leaders,” said Erik Frank, founder of Your Nutrition Delivered and CEO at Focused Action Speaking, at Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week in 2018.
Managing Capital While Pushing for Growth
As a business scales, managing cash flow becomes critical. Rapid growth often requires upfront investments in inventory, equipment and talent, which can all strain your reserves. Don’t rush financial decisions without assessing risk and potential outcomes.
Look to your investors and advisors for guidance, as well as organizations such as Nexus Louisiana’s Investment Readiness Program, that can help identify and secure funding opportunities designed for growth companies.
Making Smart Strategic Decisions
Experience might be the best teacher, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tap into industry experts, conduct market research and turn to startup networking opportunities to gain insight on how successful scale-ups make strategic decisions.
An important part of strategy is prioritizing — what will you focus on, and what won’t you focus on? MasteryPrep Founder Craig Gehring emphasizes growth-stage startups must understand “what is right for the team, what is right for our customers, what is right for shareholders — and you need time to sort through that.”
Achieving Operational Excellence
As businesses scale, maintaining operational efficiency becomes increasingly challenging, especially if they lack consistent processes and standards. “Once we grew to five people, we weren’t all in the same room, so that got disconnected,” says Lowry Curley, CEO of biotech startup AxoSim. “I learned that you need operational processes in place to check in on that.”
Some businesses at this stage may realize they need a chief financial officer to ensure capital is being properly allocated. Implementing this fiscal discipline can result in improved processes in other business operations.
Building a Skilled Workforce
Most scale-up businesses find they need additional staff, including skilled professionals and specialists. Unfortunately, finding and hiring the right people can be a challenge. Consider partnerships with local educational institutions and other employment initiatives, as they have connections to a pipeline of talented workers who can learn and grow with your organization.
In order to build a skilled workforce, you must be proactive. Participate in job fairs and networking events, which will market your startup as you seek talent. Look into other opportunities, such as internships and apprenticeships, if you’re struggling to hire experienced professionals for key roles.
How to Scale a Startup Effectively
Moving from startup to scale-up is an exciting stage of the entrepreneurial journey. This process also requires careful planning and important strategic decisions to achieve sustainable growth and long-term success. Here are steps you can take to scale your startup effectively.
Test for Risk
As your startup gains traction, it’s crucial to ensure your operations can handle the rising demand. Evaluate your product or service to determine whether it can handle increased demand, without compromising quality or incurring unnecessary costs. Consider factors such as production capacity, supply chain capabilities and the scalability of your technology infrastructure.
Additionally, stress-test your business regularly across multiple vectors, including people resources, supply chain and finance.
Diversify Your Business
It’s essential to make strategic decisions that align with your long-term goals. As startups transition into the scale-up phase, one key strategy to drive growth and mitigate risks is diversification. By diversifying your business, you can expand your offerings, customer base and revenue streams to avoid depending on a single large client or revenue source.
Another aspect of diversification is expanding the range of products or services offered. Scale-ups should identify complementary offerings that cater to additional customer needs. This not only enhances the value proposition for your customers but also opens up new market opportunities.
Adapt Your Culture
As your startup evolves into a scale-up, it’s crucial to recognize the need for cultural change and effective leadership. Step back from monotonous tasks, so you can focus on the highest-value activities.
Rapid growth, new employees and your changing responsibilities as a founder will affect your startup culture. Make sure you’ve identified your core values, including your mission statement and purpose, to serve as a North Star, even as everything changes rapidly.
Consider how you can establish a culture of accountability. As Alex Dorr of Reality-Based Leadership says, “There’s no such thing as a third option when it comes to commitment. When it comes to buy-in, you either stay in joy or you leave at peace.”
Follow the Data
Data-driven decision-making is vital when scaling a startup. Make sure you have access to accurate and timely insights into your business’s performance, including key sales metrics, financial trends and operational efficiency. This data will identify areas of improvement, potential growth opportunities and risks. Following metric reporting also enables you to track progress and make data-backed decisions that align with your long-term goals.
Foster Strategic Partnerships and Opportunities
Look for programs and opportunities to partner with other businesses, educational institutions or industry experts. These partnerships provide access to resources, talent and market insights that contribute to your growth.
Geaux Global, for example, connects Louisiana entrepreneurs, industry experts and government officials for inspiration, networking and practical strategies for international growth.
One of the most effective ways to learn how to scale your business is through hands-on experience, such as NexusLA’s Ignition, a program for startups and entrepreneurs that’s divided into two parts. Ignition 1.0 is ideal for early-stage startups looking to develop an effective business model. Ignition 2.0 helps startups transition to scale and includes a live competition for an investment prize of up to $10,000.
Find Resources to Help You Scale
Moving from startup to scale-up requires a deliberate approach to growth — not just in revenue but in your strategy, operations, leadership and mindset.
As you scale your business, look to local resources for guidance, including fellow entrepreneurs, mentors, and educational and financial assistance. Lastly, look for business incubators such as NexusLA that can give you the coaching, capital and connections to accelerate your growth.
