If you are a startup or a new company, you need to start thinking about growth. How can you get from where you are to where you want to be as a company? What are the steps to success from where you stand? Inlat is a scale-up partner specializing in making you grow the right way and we are going to share our secrets. Here are the 5 steps to create a winning scale-up strategy.
What is a scale-up?
Let’s start at the beginning, what is a scale-up company? A scale-up is defined by the OECD as a business in a rapid growth phase. In numbers, this is a company with a turnover surpassing 20% yearly for 3 continuous years, and with at least 10 employees.
It’s the magic period where you can go from startup to funded to Series A to IPO. It’s the first big step for most new companies, especially startups and those in the tech and SaaS sectors.
What is a scale-up strategy?
These are the steps and plans you have in place not only to reach that growth rhythm but to act on the momentum and achieve your company goals.
As startup entrepreneurs know the window of success is short and making the most of the hype will be essential in getting to a stable position in the market.
Your scale-up strategy is going to be that plan that gets you from the starting point to goal achieving status, with the least complications and the most benefits.
Know where you are
Can’t go anywhere if you don’t know where you are starting from, that’s why it’s important to have a clear grasp of your status now.
Having the full picture of where your company is at lets you plan for the future using a realistic beginning, which means, better resource management and timeline creation.
What do you need to know?
- Financial situation
- Product planning
- Workflow times
- Staff needs
- Team distribution
Know where you want to go
What is your ambition with your startup? Do you want to go big or conquer new markets? Setting long and short-term goals establishes the pace of work and where the attention is going to be directed at what time.
Remember to be flexible with goals as unprecedented things can cause shifts and delays. Keep straying until you get to your version of success.
Know how to get there
What product, service, or unique selling point is going to make you the top in your field? Once you have that figured out the rest gets simpler.
Make sure you are listening to the market, because the top cause behind a startup going under is a failure to read market demand, this is the case for 42% of startup fails.
After you have chosen the product then start on your marketing strategy and financial planning.
Know who is going to take you there
Hiring is a huge part of the startup’s success model and a must-have for scale-up planning. You will need new talented team members to get you improving, producing, and meeting demands.
On average it takes around 6 months to hire for a startup, so you need to be prepared with:
- Build your employer’s brand
- Delegate tasks effectively
- Have good communication channels with your leadership
- Create a hiring policy, process, and package
- Construct onboarding processes
- Identify key hires you need to grow
Know how much you need to get there
You need money to grow, simple as that. There is no scaling up without investing more money into your business. Whether you are getting outside interest or making the investment yourself.
Cash flow is one of the key metrics you need to keep an eye on to scale up successfully. This means having enough money for the fun and exciting stuff but also the everyday things.
As you grow make sure you are minding your demand generation and put your company in a profitable position. It’s always better to grow on the green, than start with the pressure of debt piling up.
How to get the money you need to scale up?
- Budget effectively
- Go for startup grants and incentives
- Hire consciously
- Get VC investments
- Explore new market opportunities
- Use resources sustainably
