Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound When you work with as many entrepreneurs as I do, you see the same patterns in terms of mistakes that owners make once they are starting to grow and scale. The following are the most common mistakes companies make during the growth and scale periods, and how to avoid them. Refusing to hire a new team to replace original employees The people who got you this far may not be the ones who can take you where you need to go next. But as the business becomes more mature and we approach a period of growth and scale, it’s important to bring in specialists to run each department, such as a head of sales, marketing, or technology. So the number-one job of an entrepreneur, at every stage in business, is to make sure she has the right people in the right roles at the right time. Not understanding the economic drivers of your business One very common mistake for entrepreneurs at this stage is that they don’t understand the numbers behind what is truly driving the business. So they don’t make decisions based on data and wind up investing in areas that don’t make the most business and economic sense. Being stuck to the product road map It is very common for entrepreneurs to get past the launch phase and be stuck in their own business product cycle. Build a product road map around their wants and needs. We’ll talk more about valuation shortly.
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The following excerpt is from Scott Duffy’s book Breakthrough. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound
When you work with as many entrepreneurs as I do, you see the same patterns in terms of mistakes that owners make once they are starting to grow and scale. Once a business gets past the initial stages—which come with their own set of mistakes—it moves into a new phase, which is growing and expanding what you’ve worked so hard to launch. As is always the case, a new phase in business, like in life, comes with its share of missteps, and I see owners and CEOs making them time and time again when scaling a business. The following are the most common mistakes companies make during the growth and scale periods, and how to avoid them.
Refusing to hire a new team to replace original employees
The people who got you this far may not be the ones who can take you where you need to go next. When we start a business, we are juggling a ton of responsibilities. We’re typically cash constrained, which forces us to hire lower-cost generalists to help us. They don’t necessarily excel in one area of the business, but they are good enough and flexible enough to help wherever we need it. But as the business becomes more mature and we approach a period of growth and scale, it’s important to bring in specialists to run each department, such as a head of sales, marketing, or technology. It’s also important to bring in people who have previous experience taking a company where we want ours to go….
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