Starting a new business is exhilarating. You have a great idea, you gather a team, get some funding, and launch your startup. Those early days are thrilling as you see your idea come to life and gain some initial traction.
However, the startup phase doesn’t last forever. If your business is successful, you will reach an inflection point where you need to scale up. This transition from scrappy startup to mature business is extremely challenging. Growth puts strain on people, processes, culture and existing infrastructure.
In this article, we’ll explore best practices for managing rapid growth without losing what makes your business special.
Stage 1: Lay the Foundation
In the early days of your startup, things are loose and fluid. You and the founding team do a bit of everything – some coding, some sales calls, maybe even taking out the trash. Processes are ad hoc and operations are basic.
This changes when you reach 50-100 employees. Now you need structure.
Here are some steps to professionalize during the growth stage:
- Document processes – Make checklists and guidelines so tasks don’t rely on tribal knowledge
- Specialize roles – Hire people for specialized positions like Marketing, Finance, HR
- Build scalable systems – Invest in IT infrastructure, CRM, project management tools
- Consistent branding – Create a logo, color palette, fonts to build brand recognition
- Culture statement – Articulate the mission, values, and behaviors you want to foster
Spending time formally organizing during this stage will streamline additional growth.
Stage 2: Expand Leadership
As a startup founder, you make every decision and lead every initiative. But as you grow, that level of oversight isn’t possible or productive.
To expand leadership:
- Hire experienced managers – Bring in people with experience scaling a business
- Train people managers – Develop management skills in those overseeing teams
- Delegate responsibilities – Empower managers to take ownership of departments and projects
- Define roles and responsibilities – Document everyone’s specific contributions and autonomy
- Communicate often – Overcommunication prevents power struggles and confusion
- Encourage leadership development – Sponsor rising stars to take on more challenges
Distributing leadership relieves founder stress and prepares the company for rapid growth.
Stage 3: Maintain Culture
One of the biggest growth challenges is preserving company culture. With a swelling employee base and new managers getting up to speed, consistency starts to waver.
Efforts to sustain culture amidst growth include:
- Codify values – Feature values prominently in materials, refer to them when making decisions
- Onboarding training – Dedicate real time to teaching culture to new hires
- Employee ambassador program – Have veteran team members buddy up with new people
- Leadership modeling – Ensure executives embody the culture in their words and actions
- Gather feedback – Survey teams to see where culture may be breaking down
- Evolve mindfully – Consider modifications to culture intentionality as the business changes
Company culture is fragile. Protecting it ensures high performance even after the plucky startup stage.
Stage 4: Streamline Systems
When processes fail to scale, systems strain and productivity drops. Explosive growth demands robust systems.
Some ideas for increasing capacity:
- Automate where possible – Identify manual efforts to automate
- Offload tasks – Determine repetitive tasks that a vendor could handle
- Upgrade tools – Switch to enterprise level software and platforms
- Improve knowledge sharing – Expand internal wikis and access to documents
- Analyze data – Look for process bottlenecks using performance metrics
- Clarify policies – Document approval procedures, spending limits, codes of conduct
As infrastructure modernization trails business expansion, make time to proactively improve systems.
Key Takeaways
- Lay organizational foundations early when scaling up
- Distribute leadership responsibilities as soon as feasible
- Protect company culture amidst exponential employee growth
- Continuously strengthen operations and technology to handle demand
The startup stage is exhilarating, but short-lived. Smart founders prepare for rapid scaling by putting structures and culture first. With intentional leadership and progress, the business can expand quickly without losing what made it special.
