3 Ways to have Break Through Start-Up Grow

5 min readJan 3, 2017

Start-ups are the business dream vehicles of our age. Dynamic, fluid and nimble they embody the aspirations of our business generation. The reasons are many. Create your own business, be your own boss and (maybe) change the world.

You may start in a shoebox, garage or basement but your drive pushes you to build and thrive. Slowly you begin to have others around you: part-time, full-time and all-the-time. You gain customers: one by one, click-by-click or pastries at a time.

The first steps can be shambolic. What you thought would sell (what people wanted) isn’t what they want. You pivot. Read the wind and change course.

As you grow, new tasks and activities seem to bleed your calendar. Where once improvisation was good enough, systems and routines become vital to stay afloat but also to climb to next level.

Then the tipping point is reached. Doing more of the same does not result in sustained growth but seems to add to diminishing results. You appear to have hit an impasse. Reached the limits of your current manifestation. The choice change and growth or stagnant?

Having worked with and interviewed many vibrant entrepreneurs each has faced this growth ceiling and broken through it. Listening to them, here are three lessons they all employed to catapult their business to next level.

1. Are You the Leader or Just a Worker?

Rolling your sleeves up is a start-up mantra. Getting the job done, in a small team, means everybody pitches in. Whether it is getting the site up or getting the food to the site, no job is too low for an entrepreneur breaking new ground.

Knowing every aspect of your business makes good sense. You do not have to be an expert but understanding how your company makes value and delivers the linchpin of your future growth.

However, the key is to understand and measure the value of your time. Each of us Apple CEO or fruit seller only has 24 hours in the day. No one has more or less. By putting a price tag (and increasing price) on your time, you can begin to assess whether you must do the work, delegate or outsource.

As a leader, your priority should be growth and sales. Increased revenue is the fuel that will drive your success. Help you break past a start-up stage.

Proper administration is critical, but no company thrived because of it. It is a backbone of success but it, not the determinate. Only dedicated time, connecting and harvesting customers will help you grow. Increasingly, spend your time finding prospecting and landing the accounts (or users) who will boost your success.

2. Put Away the Super Hero Cape and Build Capacity

Entrepreneurs like the hero mantle. When the chips are down, they like to be the person who swoops in and saves the situation. It is part of your make-up: take action. Create value.

However, being Superman or Wonder woman can breed a powerlessness in your growing team. When the bridge is burning, why call the fire department or see if you can put out the fire us if you know the caped crusader will always save the day?

Do not get me wrong: all entrepreneurs need problem-solving super powers. However, for a person used to being solution default is a recipe for a capacity cap. It also can lead to inertia in your company. With no one around to make decisions, no decisions (even tiny one) get made.

Far better as you grow to understand which decisions can be delegated and to whom. Establish the decision criteria but then allow others to autonomy (and accountability) to make a growing number of minor and possibly major decisions. As long as they do not jeopardize the company, its brand or relationship with customers.

3. Stop Being Swiss Army Knife

Doing everything can be a recipe for doing nothing well. To break through the growth ceiling, most entrepreneurs need to have heart to heart to know their strengths and limitations. By playing to your strengths, your company can prosper leveraging your unique talents.

Regardless of the sector, when it comes to start-ups that grow to be mid-sized firms, four distinct profiles exist within the leadership team. Some talented people have blended profiles but no one is master of all.

First, there is the visionary. The entrepreneur who can see over the hill. Optimistic, charismatic and solution focused. She is the inspiration that creates innovation and value. Think Steve Jobs.

The second is the builder. The person that puts organizational timbers together. Who builds the process and procedures that enable consistency: the root of all quality products and services? Think Tim Cook, the man who built the production lines and the organization to deliver on the visionary’s promises.

The third is the craftsman, chef or coder: the doer. Different from the builder, they toil at the work bench to make the products that drive the company expansion. Powered by a sense of mastery, they like to be near engine house of creation. Keeping to the Apple theme: think Steve Wozniak.

Lastly, the salesperson. Bubbling with rapport, they have the ability and industry knowledge to build connections that close into customers. Influence and people are their talents.

As the owner of the company who leans toward one (maybe more) of these profiles. However, each is needed in your leadership team if you are to hire compliments, not clones. Having a balanced team that harnesses the collective talents can lead to company hamstrung by faltering vision, organization, products or sales to break through the growth glass ceiling.

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About the Author

Simon Trevarthen is Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Elevate Your Greatness (EYG). EYG helps individuals, teams and organizations unpack the secrets of success by becoming even better versions of themselves through dynamic keynotes, seminars and workshops on innovation, inspiration and presentation excellence.