When starting a business, launching it off the ground can be a daunting and demanding process. Once your startup has officially taken off, the next phase is to start scaling up and plan for future growth.
Featured on Entrepreneur’s website, the article “4 Ways to Smoothly Transition From the Startup to the Scale-Up Phase,” written by contributor Jim Deters, discusses how businesses can switch gears to focus on scaling up a business once it has successfully launched.
“Your idea is now a growing business, and you’re finally getting money for what you’re selling after toiling for months or even years,” writes Deters in the article. “Now you have to worry about getting your company to scale, and what you’ve relied on until this point — hustle — doesn’t seem to work as well anymore.”
In the article, Deters offers a few guidelines startups can follow to help scale up their new ventures:
- Narrow the team’s focus. In the early stages, a startup’s team might be mostly compromised of people who like to do a little bit of everything, which might mean that they may not want to give up any responsibilities. However, scaling the business might become close to impossible if the team does not narrow its focus. “Whether it’s turning your ‘marketing person’ into an entire team with specialized roles, or restructuring your organization so employees can divvy up responsibilities in a more effective way, functionalizing roles can be a painful process,” says Deters in the article. “But this is a crucial part of building a big, well-oiled scale-up.”
- Guide the team with good managers. As you scale, hiring good managers is one of the best things you can do for your venture. Mangers can effectively take care of the “dirty work” — quotas, reports, processes, metrics, etc. — and can empower the team to take on big challenges.
- Set new hires up for success. Don’t expect people to hit the ground running and get the tasks done if there isn’t a clear process in place. Prepare your new hires for success. “You should invest a few days (or even a full week) getting people acquainted with all the different aspects of your business,” suggests Deters in the article.
- Take care of the team by providing good benefits. Make sure you provide employees with adequate benefits. “Do you have systems in place to support the health and well-being of your employees? I’m talking a 401(k), generous paternity and maternity leave and other perks that companies should provide once they’ve left scrappy startup territory,” states Deters in the article. “Making this a priority will keep morale high, encourage vital employees to stick with you and make it easier to bring in critical, high-level hires in the future.”
You can read the entire article on scaling up here.
