4 Common Barriers to Scaling Up

Accessing start-up funding right now is a bit like Harry Potter trying to get into Gringotts to access his fortune!

“But Hagrid, how will I pay for all of this? I haven’t any money”

“Well, there is your money Harry! Gringotts! There ain’t no safer place!”

Yes, the funding is sitting safely tucked away with investors. So what is a scale up desperate founder to do, as you watch the runway shrink?!

You do what you have always done. Leverage what you have - You and your people! And this is when it starts to become unclear and messy.?

In the last 5 years as I’ve been working with some amazing start up founders the typical problems that I have come across are:

1. Founder overwhelm and frustration, causing a lowering of energy.
2. Being unsure if his/her people are ready for the scale up effort and unsure of what to do about it.?
3. Product build / service delivery is too slow despite the founders best efforts to drive urgency.
4. Founder wondering if he/she is ready to lead the start up from $5mil to $10-20mil in revenue.?

It’s not easy to untangle the different threads and sort them into their different boxes.?

Why? Because many of these areas were not what most founders signed up for when the idea to solve a major problem in the world was born, and you took the leap!

Leading people in an SME or in a corporate environment is very different proposition to leading a messy, chaotic start up where there are no clear processes, people are wearing many hats and the roadmap is constantly evolving!

So what do founders do? They focus on what they know how to do - building the product / delivering the service and sales.?

The HARSH truth is: People scale businesses, not products or services.?

Yes we need the revenue to be able to scale but the revenue is still created by you and by your people.?

What you need are:

1. A personal “self-replenishing” supply of energy, passion and the ability to inspire others to want to come on the journey.
2. People who are operating with as much clarity and urgency as the founder.
3. An aligned focus on the product build / service delivery that is unwavering.?
4. Clarity and absolute confidence in being able to bring the product/service, people and performance on the journey without loss of momentum.

So what’s the action??

It always, always starts with the founder. Meaning your focus, productivity and energy is your holy grail and something to be managed as much as your start up.

How?

1. Allocate time to exercise 3-4 times/week. It is NOT to get toned or even physically fit - that’s a bonus extra! It is to ensure your body can deal with the stress and intensity that scaling will ask of you.?
2. Set aside 2min / day to close your eyes and just breathe. Intention is to release whatever is going on for a few minutes and stopping external impressions entering your brain restores energy helping you to come back to focus.?
3. Do your own work first. Simple. Getting caught up in others' agendas or in the dopamine triggering “to do” list might feel good, but ain’t going to get you to the top of the mountain!

Simple??

Nope! So here is my challenge to you.?

Apply these 3 tactics, or high performance habits, for the next 2 weeks daily without fail and notice what changes.?

As for the other areas, well that’s a longer conversation and why I created the Get Scale Up Ready workshop for founders.?

Practical and full of case studies but definitely only for the seriously dream-driven founders who are on a mission to make a difference in the world. To save our environment, to keep people safe, to help people get something done easier/better or whatever your mission is.?

Check it out here: https://www.jessdahlberg.com/getscaleupreadynow

Helpful??

I hope so!

Cheers

Jess