4 Growing Pains Your Company Can (and Should) Plan For

Entrepreneurship is a wild ride. It’s unpredictable and messy and completely fulfilling. While building hint? has thrown me quite a few curve balls, in speaking with other entrepreneurs, I realize I might have seen a few of them coming had I had the foresight. I thought I’d share some of these to help you get ahead. Here are a few growing pains your company can and should look for. 

1. An Up-Level in Process

I created hint water in my kitchen. My first employee was my husband, Theo Goldin, who’s now our COO. He’s also our head of sales, our in-house lawyer, and a sometime copywriter. Like Theo, our first employees wore many hats. I was CEO but also customer service. Others were doing product sampling one moment and finance the next. It was challenging, but we were all-hands on deck, and willing to do things outside of our roles because we were passionate (and because we had to).

At around 25 people, the dynamic really started to shift for hint—and I’ve heard the same from countless other entrepreneurs. People’s roles start to become more defined. And with that comes a need for more structure and process. Who is responsible for what? Who’s going to see an opportunity through to the end and report back?

I’ve never been one for scheduling a ton of meetings or overwhelming people with paperwork, and even as hint grows, I still see value in maintaining a cowboy-ish personality and taking risks. But at the same time, that roughriding technique can hurt you. Things start to slip, whether that’s sales or your brand voice. So you do need process, structure, and organization. However, too much red tape can slow things down, and then nothing gets done.

My recommendation? Start earlier but keep it simple. Spend the time upfront clearly defining your objectives, creating realistic guidelines and practices, and giving employees ownership. Then move on, and go get shit done.

2. A Loss of Focus

As contact between executives and employees becomes less frequent, you can’t assume everyone is working toward the same goal. The “reason for being” is less top of mind when the CEO is no longer two desks over. So no matter what stage your company is in, it’s important that employees feel focused on a shared mission, and that they each understand how their own piece of the puzzle fits into the larger picture. Because of this, communication and management are king.

3. Working on the Business (vs. in the Business)

When you’re going 0 to 25, you’re really working in the business. One of the biggest complaints of a founder is that they never get out socially or out to actually network with people—to go to that conference, lunch, or speaking gig. Networking can really help you make new business connections and reach a wider audience, so, in those early stages, you have to find time to go out. It can be hard to make it happen, or even summon the energy, but you never know who could be sitting next to you at the next dinner.

When I talk with founders whose companies continue to grow more than 5% per year, the key difference that I see is that they’re spending time outside their company, and they’re really continuing to tell their story. So, once you hit 25-50, you have to find that balance. Get out there, but don’t lose touch. Make networking a part of your routine, but spend time in the company, making sure that it’s still growing and that things are moving forward. It’s crucial to build out the teams appropriately, so you don’t let any balls drop.

4. Moving Away From the Customer

As a founder, you’re starting from square one and you’re actually talking to the customer on a regular basis. As your business grows, the customer base continues to expand, and soon enough you no longer have time to be personally doing door-to-door sales and responding to customer service requests. You hire employees and you delegate certain things.

Delegation is crucial to your growth, but as a founder and executive, whether or not you continue to understand the customer will make or break you. In hint’s infancy, I was personally responding to customer emails. Now, I have a customer service team of about a half a dozen people, but I still read our customer service messages and comments on social media, and I’m talking to retailers when I shop. I’m not as close as I used to be, but I’m still eyeballing it.

Listening helps me understand demand and what’s working in my business and what needs to change. It also gives me insight into what other services or products I could be offering the customer.  

As they say, the customer is always right. But if you’re not listening, someone else will be.

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Kara Goldin is founder and CEO of Hint Water, the fastest growing flavored water in the United States. Kara started Hint when she couldn't find a healthy flavored water that tasted great without questionable additives like sweeteners and preservatives. Hint Water has 0 calories, 0 sugar, and 0 diet sweeteners and can be purchased in stores as well as online, in a variety of flavors including blackberry and watermelon, in still and sparkling, as well as caffeinated. Hint recently made its foray into beauty with a new naturally scented sunscreen spray with no oxybenzone or parabens. 

Also, check out Kara's newest endeavor The Kara Network for stories of entrepreneurs and founders.