Xord — From Startup to Scaleup
Most startups fail to gain traction for a number of reasons: lack of product-market fit, bad team, bad execution, or bad timing. Even after a startup has gained some traction, the challenge to scale what you have built is even a bigger challenge. Things that helped you become a successful startup might not help you scale that.
“What got you here won’t get you there” — Marshall Goldsmith
We have seen many examples of founding teams getting replaced by experienced executives who have the expertise to manage vast operations. Scaling a company needs a completely different mindset than starting a company.
Important mindset shifts you need to make:
- Time is more important than money. As part of the founding team of a startup, you might always be thinking about where you can minimize the cost, only if you did this yourself, you could have saved some dollars hiring an intern. This mindset is fine when you are bootstrapping. But when you are managing a team of 50 people, it is always better to hire people before you need them. Time spent hiring someone when you really need them is worse than paying them for a couple of months when you don’t need them immediately.
- Speed over efficiency. Moving fast can often be the edge that you eventually have over your competitors. It is about bringing speed to your organization. If you win, how efficiently you did that does not matter. If you lose, the resources you saved before you lost do not matter. Such a task might also require a large capital injection. Prioritizing speed over doing the task efficiently and letting fires burn is not easy, but it could give you a competitive edge.
- Being comfortable with not being in the driver's seat. You can’t do everything yourself. Trusting others with critical tasks is crucial for building great teams. You need to be comfortable with hiring people who are smarter than you and trusting them to make the best decisions instead of micromanaging them.
- Delegate and elevate. There is a time when instead of working in your company, you have to start working on your company. If you are involved in day-to-day operations, you will never be able to think long-term, see problems before they happen, or identify the next big product opportunity. If you could give one advice to someone starting a new company, this would be it. Effective delegation of work is all it takes to build a company, the rest will follow through.
At the time of writing, we have crossed 100 people at our company. We are rapidly growing, and one of the biggest challenges for us is to make that mindset shift!
