Scale Startup! Initially! You did it! Your startup has been going strong for some time now and you feel like you hit the place where everything is stable, however, now the question is how to take it to the next step. The process of doing this is called scaling up and it can be the greatest challenge your business faces, and the truth makes it or breaks it the point. So, to ensure you have an idea of how to approach this and what you can expect, let’s take a look at the basics of scaling up your startup.
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Scale Startup! 5 Important Steps for Scaling Up Your Startup
5 Important Steps for Scaling Up Your Startup.
Is your business ready to scale up?
Figuring out whether or not your business is ready to scale up is going to be the most important thing to consider before moving forward, as studies show that as many as 74% of startups fail because of premature scaling. What’s more, startups that decided to scale prematurely also grow at a lesser pace than those that scaled properly. This is why timing is going to be the key to a successful scale-up; but, in order to get your timing right, you are going to need to take a good hard look at your company to make sure you have everything that is needed for a successful scale-up.
Things to look for when deciding to scale up
A general rule of thumb should be to constantly keep setting goals for your business, and if you are able to consistently reach and surpass those goals, that can be a good indicator that your business is ready to scale up.
Also, just like with a startup, one of the key ingredients to success, if you decide to scale up, is going to be proper funding. Investors, business loans or even personal loans are all possibilities to consider in order to secure the funding you need; however, you should also look into diverting some of the revenue your business is making baking into the business itself. This will help you be more financially independent but it’s also going to make sure you are setting yourself up for long term success. With those benefits in mind, you still need to remember that you most likely won’t start seeing results immediately, but should instead expect to start seeing positive returns somewhere down the road.
A key factor to scalability is the positioning of your products on the market and the general trends that the market is facing. So, you are going to need to figure out what your potential for growth is by asking questions like, whether or not there is an interest in your products, will the demand increase and so on. Once you make sure that your startup is ready to scale up and is indeed scalable it’s time to look at the steps you need to take in order to start making some progress. 5 Important Steps for Scaling Up Your Startup.
Make a plan
Just like with most things, making a plan for scaling up your business is going to be the cornerstone from which you are going to start this endeavor. Your scale-up plan shouldn’t be anything too complicated, it should include the strengths and weaknesses of your company, the hopes, and potential fears, and finally, a set of goals to aim for that include all of these things.
You should hold on to your excitement, and think very carefully about your scaling plan. Your marketing, branding, and finances should all be connected to one larger business plan. A broader reach that you will have will require you to rethink deeply your marketing strategy, and also the operating costs of your business. Like all business strategies, you should first focus on smaller milestones and achievements, and gradually build them up to scale.
Hire new people
With that in mind, the next step is going to be to actually start expanding, usually by hiring more people. This is an integral part of the process of scaling up since up until now you probably had a small team of people without completely defined roles in the company. As you hire more people, you are going to need to make sure that everyone knows their place and that everyone is specialized for a specific job. To ensure you do this right you need to take some time to think through your process for hiring new people, but most importantly make sure that you are hiring people who will fit in well with the general chemistry and the vision of your business. A problem you may also face at this stage is providing the new arrivals with a high-quality workplace, as your primary office can start getting a bit overcrowded. This is where it can prove to be a very good idea to look into a coworking space in Sydney, London, New York or other major cities. First of all, this is going to allow you to have a more controlled and gradual transition, but also having the business in a big city has a lot of advantages and it will prove to be tremendously useful in the process of scaling up.
Perfect your products and services
A mistake people tend to make when scaling up is to start branching off into new areas as soon as they find some success. Just because your product has found a somewhat stable foothold in the market doesn’t mean it can’t be improved, in fact, it almost certainly can. This is why you need to make sure that you can do that one thing you built your business on better than almost anyone else before you decide to look for new opportunities.
Conclusion
When scaling up you are going to need to constantly keep reminding yourself of the huge possibilities it can have for your company, but you should also never forget that you are going to face many challenges along the way. However, if you are persistent and understand the importance of taking this process gradually, then there should be no reason not to take the chance and lead your business to the next step.
Scale Startup! 5 Important Steps for Scaling Up Your Startup
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One thing that can make a difference is to be a leader rather than a manager. So many people thing that they can simply manage people without giving them the right tools, and by tools I mainly refer to motivational tools, tools to allow them to grow and become better at their work. You should inspire people and motivate them to become better.