6 Tips for Scaling Your Startup
If you’re a startup founder, it's important to look
for opportunities for growing your enterprise in the long term. Scalability is
a crucial factor for success. It indicates progress not just in revenue, but
also in other factors like risk tolerance, productivity, and innovation.
Still, the challenge can be daunting. According to
an article from Investopedia, startups had a failure rate of 90% in 2019.
As a matter of fact, only a handful of startups can make it past their 10th
year of operation before going bust.
From a lack of research to limited capital, there
are various ways your startup can fail. This shouldn't discourage you from
making the journey towards startup success. By focusing more on scalability,
your startup is guaranteed to thrive past the 10-year mark. Here are a few tips
you should keep in mind:
1. Review your
business model
Before launching your startup, it's important that
you spend time analyzing your business model and checking if it has the
potential to support the sustained growth of your startup. The best way to
approach this is to use a business model canvas or BMC. This allows you to visualize your
startup's potential to scale and develop a unique identity.
Through a BMC, you get to identify key partnerships,
revenue streams, cost structures, activities, resources, and other factors that
will fuel future growth. Once you have completed your BMC, you can determine
what works, plan for the long term, and minimize the risk of failure.
2. Find your key
strengths
What does your startup have that other startups
lack? Determining key strengths is crucial to know how your startup can compete
against other enterprises in your market.
For this, don't just focus on filling up the gap
between you and your competitors. Instead, concentrate on enhancing core
products and activities. If there's anything you are doing right, look for ways
to improve it. Don't rush into new projects just yet. Take time to build on the
things that are gaining ground.
Understanding what makes your startup unique can
help you focus on concepts that matter in terms of long-term growth.
3. Make the most
out of your workforce
Hiring more people doesn't necessarily accelerate
the growth of your startup. It only makes core processes more complicated in
addition to eating into the bottom line.
When recruiting people to your startup, don't focus too much on
filling up empty seats and creating unnecessary positions. During the first
months of launching your startup, you need to build a pioneering team that
provides the skills and experience that coincide with your business's core
activities.
You can reach out to business owners you know and
ask for referrals. Also, consider posting job ads on social media platforms
like Facebook or LinkedIn. In any case, it's important that you provide a clear
description of the kind of employees you will want to hire.
The future of your startup depends heavily on the
quality of your human capital. Consider coming up with a detailed profile of
an ideal employee for your startup. That way, you won't have to waste time and
resources on candidates who won't deliver long-term value.
4. Consider
outsourcing
In case you lack the resources to recruit an in-house
team, outsourcing would be the best option. Especially if you are operating as
a sole proprietorship, hiring a remote worker is a cost-effective way to
support your business's growth during the first few months of launching.
You can find freelancers who can handle a range of
tasks that in-house employees can handle but at a cheaper cost. If you want to
build a marketing campaign, for instance, you can hire independent contractors
that have the creative and technical skills you need. Another option is to
partner with a marketing agency. There are a number of outsourcing firms that
provide teams for a flat rate.
Whether it's a freelancer or an offshore company, outsourcing provides your startup with an
affordable way to access skills that are locally unavailable. This also allows
you to offload repetitive tasks so you can focus on finding other growth
opportunities. Plus, you get to save more money from hiring costs. You can use
these savings to strengthen other aspects of your startup and open up new
income streams.
5. Channel your resources
towards innovation
Your startup has a better chance of success if it's
able to provide new concepts to the market. After all, the whole point of
building a startup is to drive innovation. Spending less time, money, and
effort on research and development will only make it difficult for your startup
to scale amid a tech-driven landscape that's constantly changing.
Take the time to learn the issues and problems that
are prevalent in your market. How will your startup solve these problems? How
can you align your products or services with current trends?
One thing's for sure, you wouldn't want to rely too
much on your core activities. As the bottomline grows, you should set aside a
portion of your earnings for fueling innovation.
In case you are not sure about starting an innovation program,
consider getting a partner who can help you develop an innovation strategy and unlock your startup's potential as a
leader for transformative disruption.
6. Forge strategic
partnerships
In some cases, startup founders overlook one
essential part in scaling their organizations: The need to form partnerships.
While you can relish in the idea that your startup is the product of your own toil, you will still need to find business partners who can be instrumental in helping you find growth opportunities in other areas and locations.
You just need to develop a desire to build alliances with potential growth partners. Look for mentors and industry leaders to connect with and find out how your business can fit into their agenda. From there, introduce your startup and what it is developing recently.
Once you have forged partnerships with important industry figures, you will be able to discover new growth opportunities to leverage.
The need to scale is becoming more important as more startups enter the arena. so put these tips to the test and let your startup thrive for more than a decade!
