- Scaling refers to the period in a startup’s life when management and board feels like they can systematically accelerate growth
- Scaling normally happens after (1) product-market fit has been found and (2) the search for a repeatable sales or customer acquisition model has yielded enough positive data
- Know when you have crossed the Chasm: It’s difficult to know when you have truly repeatable processes and you may be misreading market readiness
- The mission of a start-up is to find a viable business model. Once this bridge is crossed, you are ready to take your business to another level.
To-do List for scaling purposes
- Build and hone a repeatable cutomer process, from understanding a sales process or conversion funnel to onboarding and supporting a customer, to ongoing CRM activities.
- Build a solid infrastructure of systems, for example billing and invoicing to recovering money owed by partners and customers.
- Raise an appropriate amount of capital to support the generally inevitable cash-flow need that an agressive scaling strategy requires
- Make sure you have competent management, and establish organizational routines that will drive your company forward.
- Put together and maintain a team that can take the company to a consistent and focused execution
- Read Mark Leslie’s sales learning curve
- You need to be systematically measuring your entreprise and iterating on data.
- Read Dave McClure ‘s metrics for pirates
- Make sure your product can operate at scale. Put together the necessary resources to handle the growth
- Nail It Then Scale It is a MUST read
