Comments on: 6 Strategies to Build Scalable Business

By: a4nuser

a4nuser — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:31:38 +0000

Attract and relish investor funding. Organic growth (reinvesting profits only) will not allow you to build the “hockey stick” growth curve desired by premium buyers at exit, or financial analysts positioning you for public stock sale. You will give up some control with investors, but their expertise and experience is usually more than worth the cost.

By: a4nuser

a4nuser — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:31:13 +0000

Automate to the max. A startup that is labor intensive and staff intensive is not scalable. Start early looking at production automation, proven process technologies, and minimum staff approaches, before you begin scaling. Document processes and build online training videos so new people can come online quickly and consistently.

By: a4nuser

a4nuser — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:30:52 +0000

Focus on marketing and indirect channels to get the message out quickly. Direct marketing is generally not scalable, especially on low-cost high-volume products. These days, heavy marketing is always required to make your startup visible and scalable amid the flood of information from all sources to all customers. Word-of-mouth does not scale.

By: a4nuser

a4nuser — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:30:31 +0000

Outsource what is non-strategic to optimize leverage. Smart entrepreneurs never outsource their core competency, and never rely on intellectual property they don’t own. They also don’t try to do everything in-house, since growing all the expertise you need is slow and expensive. Scaling requires leveraging outside resources.

By: a4nuser

a4nuser — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:30:08 +0000

Use a minimum viable product (MVP) to validate the model. No product, even with a large opportunity, is ready to scale until you can show it working, with multiple customers paying the full price, to validate the business model. Count on multiple pivots with real customers, before you get it right, before you ask for investor money to scale.

By: a4nuser

a4nuser — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:29:39 +0000

Build a strong team to take yourself out of the critical path. If you are still spending most of your time working “in” your business, rather than “on” your business, then you are not yet ready to scale. Show that you have and can continue to hire the right people to run the scaled business without you being everywhere and making every decision.