Three reasons to choose to build for long-term success vs short term glory

Five years ago, Jennifer Brandel, Mara Zepeda, Astrid Scholz and Aniyia Williams wrote that “Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break", calling for sustainable growth in startup culture.?

Many startups chase unicorn status (privately owned and valued at over $1b). Fast growth needs a lot of cash, but these startups can grow too fast and risk crashing and burning.?

Zebras are all about sustainable growth, focusing on building solid foundations, customer success and company culture.?

The Zebra/Unicorn approach feels very relevant right now when we’re starting to see casualties of the growth against all costs culture. The food ordering app Gorillas was valued at $3b last year, only to announce mass lay-offs a couple of months ago.?

Having worked with over 60 startups over the years, I have seen my fair share of unicorns and zebras. Here’s my take on why building for long-term success is the way to go:

? Focus on quality, not quantity?

We have all heard that it costs more to acquire new customers than to keep existing ones, and it’s true. If you focus on building a product people love and get real value from, they'll tell more people about it, and will be more likely to stick around for the long term. This is more sustainable than constantly chasing new customers.

Starbucks is a great example of this. For years following its inception in the 1970s, they focused on developing their internal culture and the customer experience instead of advertising. This time spent focusing on the things that will sustain the company for many years to come instead of quick wins made the brand what it is today.?

? Develop a strong company culture?

As you grow from a company of one to many, it’s easy for your culture to become diluted unless your leaders are in tune with their team and customers. This can be accelerated in a growth against all costs culture and at scale can result in being called out publicly. Think about the type of company you want to build, and create the right environment for your team to succeed.

Brewdog went through a very public crisis last year when a group of current and former employees wrote an open letter on Twitter criticising the culture and the impact this had on employees’ mental health. Their co-founder issued a public response and apology, acknowledging the fast-growing nature of the business. However, judging by the Twitter account set up by the group of employees, nothing has changed.?

? Time to test and learn

Did you know that booking.com runs approx 25,000 tests a year with 1,000 always running simultaneously? At the Scale Up Collective, we approach everything with a growth mindset - always testing, learning and optimising based on metrics and feedback. Although this might seem to take longer when you just want to get going, it’s actually a bigger waste of time to ignore the test and learn process. We always recommend getting your product out there and making improvements based on feedback along the way.?

The performance nutrition brand Grenade is all about playing the long game. Founders Alan and Juliet Barret invested time in recipe development and supplying gyms for over a decade before approaching the major supermarkets. They spent 17 months perfecting the flavour for just one bar alone. Their hard work paid off as Grenade was sold to Mondelez in 2021 in a ￡200m deal last year.?

I hope you’ll choose being a zebra, not a unicorn. What are you doing to pave the way for your long-term success?

Lucy

PS. Our PR expert from our Scale Up Accelerator, Pippa Goulden, has just launched a self-paced course: How To Work With Influencers To Supercharge Your Business, and she’s giving 10% off to Power Up subscribers - just enter SCALEUP10 at checkout.?