Building a startup is like navigating a minefield

Growing a startup into a scaleup is like navigating a minefield. It’s stressful and (emotionally) dangerous.

To Grow a startup, you have to map a personal path

Chances are that no one has done what you’re doing before: there are no maps. You have to make the path. You know where you want to go and there’s no road to get there. Yet.

Under pressure to move fast, you have no idea of where the mines are. Either you move fast and risk the mines or slow down. Slowing down is rarely an option. 

To Grow a startup, you have to keep moving fast

Yet you must proceed with caution and be alert for danger: market fit, runway, customer sentiment... Still, the pressure to grow makes it difficult to move as methodically as you might want to.

What you know is that you must stay focused and avoid becoming distracted. A lapse could have horrible consequences for you and for those you are responsible for, and to.

Working in startups for 18 years,  I’ve seen startups gear up for scaling, forwarding as fast as they can, being as ‘Agile’ as they can. Idea, test, iterate. Yet they’re so focused on moving, fast that they go forward blindly, missing a simpler way forward.

What if You Could Build Your Own Mine Detector?

Spoiler: You can. 

Here is how to prepare to scale

Or if I follow this metaphor, how to build your own mine detector

In order to scale effectively, you need to have your strategy, structure and systems in place first.

If you start by hiring fast, and do not have strategy, structure and systems, your team will not be able to effectively integrate new people and the A-team and amazing culture you had will crumble under the pressure.

How to Develop the Foundations to Scale your Startup Effectively

Strategy: Define your primary goal, clarify it, consider how you can break it down into smaller deliverables. Do that in collaboration with your team. It gives you an idea of how you will execute, even if you will have to adjust over time. Keep the goal in mind and high in everyone’s mind. The Why is important, we’re here to figure out the How. This is how you sense where the path is, even if it is not visible yet. 

Structure: It supports the strategy. It is the people who implement the strategy for each department. At the beginning it will be you, then you will delegate as you grow. This is your control box, where the information is gathered and analysed to make sure that we’re going in the right direction.

Systems: The people in your team then build the systems to deliver the strategy. They are the shaft of your mine detector, linking the strategy with the structure.

Once your operating framework (strategy, structure, systems) is in place, your team is free to push innovation, product and marketing. Without this framework, your team will be too worried about mines to make things happen effectively.

I can help you navigate the minefield that startup growth is by helping you build your own mine detector: The strategy, structure and systems are basically the culture that will scale your business from a scrappy startup to a full-fledged thriving business.

Image courtesy of Freepik