To Scale or Not to Scale

That moment you contract with your first paying client you feel unstoppable, there is an urge for rapid growth, to expand your line of products, and to fail.

You read that right, fail. When you get that first paying client, what should you do? How do you grow strategically? How do you disrupt the industry while pushing the boundaries and meeting your investors’ expectations?

Time and time again, I have conversations with innovators around their product or solution, and their ideas are always grand. The innovator feels they can impact every aspect of the standard of care, and that they can work in every state, for every hospital, or every doctor. They focus on their growth and their ability to solve all the problems. They focus on the broad idea and lose sight of the specific impact they can have.

Nail It Then Scale It!

Rapid growth may make sense for an investor. The investor may want to know the story of how your company can become the next Amazon. They may push for you to achieve an exit that produces the best return for their investment in the shortest time. The question comes down to how do you scale in a meaningful way?  

If Amazon started with all their lines of business they have today, would they have been successful? It is probably safe to assume the answer is no. 

Amazon’s foundation was rooted in its success as an online book store. Your company’s success will come from a solid foundation, that success will allow you to pivot, adjust, and be agile in a fast-paced, highly competitive industry.

Your company’s success will come from a solid foundation, that success will allow you to pivot, adjust, and be agile in a fast-paced, highly competitive industry.

Find a niche area where you can showcase how successful your company is. This success will lead to an ability to expand to new markets and lines of business. Consider not only where your product fits, but where it has the potential to be the most successful. You will experience less resistance around growth when you have proven your capabilities.

Consider the following. You have a chronic disease management company that can work in patients diagnosed with diabetes, heart failure, and COPD. You research the market for a client and discover that if you manage diabetes, there are more members available for your program. However, you know that your company will have better clinical and economic outcomes for heart failure. Target heart failure first, even if it means smaller revenue numbers initially. Your success in heart failure will help with your adoption in other conditions such as diabetes and COPD.

The stronger your outcomes are, the easier adoption becomes!

You may be asking yourself, what if there is an opportunity that can help my company expand? Do consider these opportunities. Weigh the pros and cons of the situation.

• Will it divert the company from its mission or push it forward?
• Are there enough resources to support the anticipated growth?
• What are the expected outcomes?
• Who is making the request?
• Is this strategic or opportunistic move?

You do not want to miss moments to grow. You also do not want to adjust focus or add new offerings to the business unless it strategically makes sense.

It is easy for a company to expand too quickly, placing growth over profitability and success. While you are smaller, it is easier to be agile and adjust based on feedback given by your customer. Do not fear about becoming stuck. If your innovation is as successful and as impactful as you think it is, then you should have no issues to expand outside of your starting market.