Founder 101: Scaling Your Startup

Scaling your business is ALWAYS daunting, no matter how many times you may have done it before.?

Like most entrepreneurs, I went in the first time with some pretty lofty aspirations.

This can be a positive thing in terms of drive and ambition to succeed –? but it’s important to not let it become your Achilles heel.??

Whilst scaling my second business, there are definitely a few key learnings that I have taken onboard this time around:

1. If your company depends on you as a founder, it’s not acquirable.

One of your jobs, as the founder of a business that you eventually hope will be acquired, is making yourself disposable.

For example, I have been in the US for the past 2 months, and it has been awesome to see how the team are getting on without me.

Last month was?our best ever month as a business, and at one point Claudia Stankler mentioned that they had “barely noticed that I was gone”.?

Shockingly (??), that comment actually made my day – because it shows that I’ve done my job properly, and created a self-sufficient, entirely competent team.

2. Delegation is important – but it stands for nothing if you aren’t also empowering the leaders in your business.

Honestly, I have not been involved in the day-to-day running of the business for some time now.?

From the outset, I made it my practice to trust all of the senior leadership team to get things done. The majority of my interactions with them are focused on reporting and problem-solving – but on an everyday basis, they all truly run their own areas.

I jump in and support them if they need me on a strategic level, but in general, they have the autonomy to do their jobs in the way that works best for them – and that’s what empowerment looks like.

This makes a huge difference during the process of scaling. If you have effectively empowered your leadership team, they will have already taken on that extra responsibility, and it’s not a change of pace.

3. Strategic thinking and tactical execution are the cornerstones of scaling – so make sure there is a clear delineation between them.

Just because something is working for you right now, doesn’t mean that it will still be working in a year’s time. You always have to be thinking ahead – which means that you need a strong group of strategic thinkers, as well as your tactical executors.?

This is why hiring is so important. Although it's amazing when your tactical team can contribute strategically, they need to focus on tactical outcomes.?

Similarly, depending on the size of the business, your strategic leaders might still need to get involved with tactical execution, but their job is ultimately to focus on growth.

Your team has to be able to specialise in order to scale properly.?

We have spent a lot of the past year moving from teams of generalists to teams of specialists, making sure every single base is covered and preparing for growth – and it is paying back in dividends.

Rapid growth, whilst exciting, needs a LOT of planning, preparation and strategy. Without the necessary measures in place to achieve this, you risk becoming a victim of your own success.?