"Although there are exceptions to the rule, there are very few founding teams that are marvelous at groundbreaking innovation that can successfully make the transition to managing and operating at scale," Anyone who’s been with a company transitioning from startup to scale-up will relate to this. It's a bumpy ride. It’s a massive sea change when you get investment, but with that comes the need to 10X revenue. Tomorrow. Here are three observations that, from my experience, have made the difference in getting it right and getting to exit: Culture/People: When you start to scale rapidly, you need to be honest about the types of people you’ll need, while also holding on to what made the culture special. It’s a balancing act, but the truth is, some of the people who helped you reach base camp won’t be the ones to take you to the summit. Many will make that decision for themselves. The business won’t be the cool new kid anymore, and it just won’t be for them. Sometimes it’s the people you like and respect the most. That hurts. Too Many Horses in the Race: Any business, no matter the size, is usually trying to do too much with too little. As an exec team, you have to be ruthless and aligned on which horses you’re betting on. Some of the ones you’re sure will win fall at the first hurdle. Others, you really want them to win, but they just won’t, and you need to know when to call it quits. Make sure everyone, top to bottom, knows what the focus is. At Unruly, we put the quarterly objectives on the back of the toilet door—everyone knew exactly what we were doing and why. Be the Lighthouse in Your Sector: With influencer marketing, CTV, and retail media all exploding, competition for budgets is fierce. What I’ve found is that the secret to securing a seat at the table is measurement and insight. At Unruly, we built a tool to predict virality—not just because it was cool, but because it gave us credibility with brands and agencies. It made us a voice of authority in a noisy market full of unproven claims about how to go viral. In all of the above three sectors, there’s a real opportunity to lead the market. This is partly thanks to a whole range of amazing new tools that can give brands the confidence to invest. But it’s also because brands are now more open to sharing their data, allowing us to predict and model real-world outcomes. No surprise, this approach isn’t for the faint-hearted—but the reality is, fortune favours the brave. https://lnkd.in/e2JDJ32D.
Guy Jackson
2mo
Very good post Dan ! Start-up to scale-up is just one of the transitions, pivots & changes in direction that can challenge even the best of teams.
Programmatic Partnerships & Supply Lead at Sportradar | DSP | ad:s (NASDAQ : SRAD) | Ad-Tech Veteran
2moBloody love this and not ashamed to say I'm stealing it for internal use :)