Five Steps to Scaling Your Business Successfully

Many founders and their senior management are struggling to grow their companies. Want to level up from a startup to a scale-up, then into a profitable global corporation? Here is how you can make scaling up a lot easier.

Step 1: Review your goals and plan

Defining your goal (what you want to achieve) and objectives (how and when you want to achieve it) is essential. You need to have a minimum viable plan that would prepare your mind and give you the necessary awareness and visibility to prioritize projects.

  1. Goal
  2. Objectives
  3. Risks
  4. Success Factors
  5. Deliverables (Outcomes)

Step 2: Map the activities under each value stream

A value stream is the list of activities that generate a specific value to the customer; examples include, the process of upgrading a customer’s internet speed or delivering to a customer a cleaning service by a specialized team.

Template Screenshot of the Value Stream Mapping tool

Step 3: Make sure you have the right team

Just like an orchestra, having the right people undertake the job is critical to have harmony. They must be fully engaged, motivated, have the minimum skills required to get the job done, and display ambition to grow with the company. When you empower them, they need to take accountability and do what is necessary to get the job done and do the right thing.

Step 4: Make sure you have enough cash

Unless you are from the lucky ones with tens of millions in funding, you must manage cash flow with caution. That means you have to set an investment budget (even if it is guesstimating) for each project. It is a common area of risk where you end up stretching your cash thin and failing because a lack of money triggered a delay in the project, a compromise in quality, and so on.

Step 5: Build an execution routine

It is vital to have a system for executing your plans and implementing changes. This system should stick to minimizing any risks caused by uncertainty — aligning with other executives and your team regularly.

Make the right calls

In conclusion, these five steps will act as pillars to help you make effective business decisions for growth. These are essential to building the foundation and giving you better clarity on the outcomes of your decisions. There is more than one right path to complete an objective successfully. It is not a complete solution as there is so much to explore in each step. You will still have to overcome resistance to change, replace unfit staff, and be firm and fair. Remove all barriers. Also, to assess your readiness to scale your business, you need to meet the minimum prerequisites, such as establishing product-market fit, having paying customers, training programs for new employees, and so on.

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Helping Startup/ Scaleup Leaders implement incremental operational excellence through the SAUS (Skill-up As You Scale-up) method.

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Adel Hameed

Helping Startup/ Scaleup Leaders implement incremental operational excellence through the SAUS (Skill-up As You Scale-up) method.