So, your startup is successfully up and running, and now you’re contemplating scaling.
In order to create a big business out of a startup, you first need to consider whether your company is viable for scaling.
Is your startup capable of growing? And more importantly, can it adapt to higher demand without compromising on quality or performance?
Scaling startup operations can be risky. Too soon, and it can result in failure. Too late and you'll miss out on a greater revenue that comes with seizing key opportunities.
However, if you believe your business is ready for growth, read our tips to go from startup to scale-up: how to prepare your business for growth in 2019.
Begin With The Fundamentals
What makes a startup scalable? Take your business to the next level by identifying your:
- Core products
- Targeted customers
- Marketing channels
- Resources and funding
It's essential to have enough money at your disposal before you scale your business. Search for investments if necessary.
If you can't answer these questions confidently, it may be too soon.
"...startups that scale properly grow about 20 times faster than startups that scale prematurely, and 93% of startups that scale prematurely never break the $100k revenue per month threshold."
Startup Genome Project 2011
Automation and Outsourcing is Essential
Research methods that will help you automate as many of your tasks as possible. For example:
- Information management (cloud storage and organization)
- Process automation (payroll, new employees and customers, etc.)
- Marketing automation (email automation)
It will take time to establish your business automation, but it will allow you to streamline your processes to capitalize on your time (and your team's).
Consider outsourcing any ancillary tasks that you can't automate. Focus on your core, offering work and outsource the rest. Delegate copywriting, design, legal issues and office cleaning to external contractors. After successfully growing to scale, consider restoring these auxiliary roles in-house.
Hire an accountant for your business. Automating or self-managing your tax payments carries a high risk of misunderstanding complicated tax laws. You don't want to become subject to an audit, simply because you mis-categorized expenses. An accountant will help you pick up on any unnecessary expenditure, work out where you may be losing money and help strategize for growth.
Investing in professional help to manage your tax payments will more than pay for itself over time. It will also help you to grow your business faster.
Build It To Work Without You
Ideally, your operations should be streamlined, simplified, understandable and repeatable.
You should feel confident that if you weren't there, someone could walk straight into your role and continue operating the business without missing a beat.
Hire The Right People
![Hire The Right People]hire-right-people.jpg "Hire The Right People")
To ensure scalability success, you need the right people on your side. As a startup, you can't afford to hire anyone that isn't the right fit. Employ people who embody your mission and will go over and above what's expected of them, to see your company succeed.
Look for these characteristics in your team members:
- They offer great ideas
- They are multi-skilled
- They cannot be replaced by a machine
A scalable business allows your imagination to run wild, make tons of money, and enjoy doing it! As soon as you understand the process for successful scalability, it becomes much easier.
Scalability means having the systems and people in place to ensure your business grows as seamlessly and effortlessly as possible. These tips will have you go from startup to scale-up: how to prepare your business for growth in 2019 before you know it.
Think big, and you will become big.
Guest Author
Cloe Matheson enjoys reading and writing articles on business and lifestyle topics. Visit her personal blog to see more of her published work.