Four Tips to Successfully Scale at Your Own Speed

Get this: Just one percent of startups scale correctly, while more than 70 percent end up in a half-grown wasteland. This is the new discovery of 10X-E founder Jason Goldberg, who recently spoke at the Western Cape Funding Fair about the rocky road of scaling a company. Anyone with an idea can start a business, but only people with a vision can grow one. The question that separates those with vision and those without is: “What kind of business do you want to grow?” Some people want to scale quickly and sell high. Some want to establish a steady paycheck doing work they enjoy. Founders who understand their goals -- and the correct path to reach them -- are more likely to join that top percent of companies who scale correctly. No one will defend your time but you. Founders often find themselves doing work they never intended to do. Someone who loves baking might not love the accounting, janitorial work and hiring responsibilities of running a bakery. On the other hand, a terrible baker who loves running a bakery could be excellent in a strategic role but awful behind the counter. Founders of successful companies understand their limitations and personal goals. These four strategies provide a road map for entrepreneurs of all types to scale at the speed that works for them: 1. Stop focusing on gorilla clients. If one client accounts for a large percentage of the company’s revenue, the company is vulnerable. Clients can become dissatisfied or unmanageable for any reason, and if a company is overly dependent on one, a severed contract could mean layoffs and worse. This is true for companies both large and small. According to Bloomberg, when Express Scripts announced that [...]