The Never-Ending Circle Of Growth

You have successfully found your initial target and built a decent product to address it. Your customer/people focus is great and your company is growing, 5% to 10% week over week, at small scale.

Now you need to grow & scale, to turn your shop into an empire. And while there is no obvious recipe to do that, yet some patterns prevail.

A Circle of People, Product, Process.

Growth is a never-ending & growing circle of people, product and process to master in which entrepreneurs find themselves rolling in over and over again. It’s a simple order to follow:

People: Entrepreneurs always start by focusing on the people: the customers, the users. They are what matter first, always and forever. A company has one single mission: to serve people. That is why the first priority of every single founder is to apply lean and unscalable patterns first, in order to test, reach and serve their first customers.

Product: Then you start to build a product in order to bring the best possible experience in the users/customers’ hands.

Process: Quickly comes a time when you need to grow and scale: the team, the product, the infrastructure… In order to reach and serve more customers, the best possible way.

Within this circle of people, product and process, you keep asking yourselves what to do next, how to improve the way you serve your customers, develop your product, grow & scale your company. It’s time to set your priority list…

A Circle of Priorities

When you started, it was simple to set your priority list. But as time passes, the list is getting longer and it’s slightly more complicated to get it sorted. Don’t over-anticipate. Your business is 80% action, 20% anticipation, not the other way around. You do things because they are necessary.

Kill The Frictions: Are there any bottlenecks or frictions in your circle of People, Product, Process that prevent you from serving your customers and grow your business? If yes, just kill them. Don’t over-kill them though.

Eradicate The Debts: Growth is not a smooth and peaceful journey. You will always run behind your growth. However, you must be careful no to fall behind ! Growth is an absolute focus but not always an immediate priority. Operational, technical, brand-awareness debts arise in all startups. It’s ok as long as you eradicate them in time.

It’s All About Growth: Frictions and Debts put aside, whatever comes next, on your priority list and the one of your co-founders and employees, must always fuel growth, and rather sooner than later !

Now that you’re in this circle of growth with the right set of priorities, don’t forget about the most important of all… The people!

A Circle of People

Everything is for and around the people, that we talk about your customers, co-founders, employees, friends, advisors, investors... You can only apply those growth patterns with the right people surrounding you.

Learn to hire and attract benevolent, hard working, talented people. Inspire them, lead them, drive them. If you fail at this mission, nothing else will follow. This is the first priority of all.