Is your company a Scalable Startup or a Small Business??

Is your company a small business or a scalable startup??
Scalable Startups: are companies with founders that have a vision to become big and world class company. Their goal is not just to make enough money to feed their family, no, they want to make something worth a lot of money or NOTHING at all.

They believe their company will make more than US$10M/year. They only employ the best because they want to be the best in their market. Moreover, they believe they are the only team that can make this vision happens.

In the other hand, small businesses are just the opposite. The founders just want to create a company to have a source of revenue to feed their family. They are small and they resist to become big.

To see the slide in bigger version here.

I’m so happy to see companies in Kuwait such as 6alabat.com, Maachla.com, dishdasha express (dish-a.com), Kuwait Food concepts (Open Flame restaurant) and Yabila.com. These companies have a founder teams with big dreams and huge passion of what they are doing. These companies can and will grow so big that they will start recruiting a lot of people. They will put Kuwait in the map, they will attract global talents and they will help in increasing our skills and competitiveness regionally and globally.

These type of companies will be the pillar of Kuwait economy when oil goes cheap (believe me this will happen in less than 20yrs). They will create jobs, pay salaries and will be happy to pay their taxes if they know it will be reinvested wisely. We need more of these types of companies, we need to encourage them, make things easier for them and treat them like hero’s. These startups need funding, they need mentors and advisors, they need legislations to change, they need a working place, they need talented labor and they need the government to do their job.

I’m not saying we should stop supporting small businesses (such as franchise businesses, fashion stores and small food businesses), but we should realize the differences between them. While Scalable Startups disrupt their markets, create lots of jobs, attract talented skills and creates tons of value and money, small businesses just try to full-fill an increased demand in an established market and make enough money to feed their families. As a Kuwaiti I wish to see more of Scalable Startups and hear less buzz about Small Businesses.

You can read more about this topic in Steve Blank blog.