Mentors Magazine: Issue 3

52 | MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 3

different North American B2C and B2B

markets.

In every case, they looked at the new

markets and asked “What do we change

and what do we keep the same.” To get

the right market fit and performance, they

tailored the scaling strategy – because the

markets demanded different things from

the business model.

Adjust Your Management Valence

Achieving significantly higher growth rates

in new markets is a major shift from the

startup status quo. When you scale, you

and your team become ambidextrous –

managing the existing enterprise while

you lead the scaling initiative.

The hardest part of this dual focus is

weaning the CEO from thinking that only

they can make crucial decisions. In the

continual firefighting of early stage

startups, CEOs keep their hands on every

moving part of the business model and

jump in to fix whatever needs fixing. After

years of operating like that, they usually

become wed to the idea that they must

be involved in nearly all decisions — from

pricing strategy to hiring decisions.

Getting them to let go of that mentality

and mode of operation is tough.

But it’s essential: While that may have

been an important ingredient for success

in the company’s earlier stages, you can’t

scale with that model. It keeps the CEO

entrenched in the original business and

insufficiently involved in the new scaling

initiative.

Instead, the board and management team

need to accept some new responsibilities

and do the heavy lifting in the existing

business. That requires robust operating

processes: A business model that requires

constant tinkering and intervention by the

CEO and leadership team won’t do well

when the executives are distracted and

partially consumed with scaling. In their

ambidextrous management role, the CEO

and executive team need to focus on how

the business is running, and step away

from being involved in running every as-

pect of the business. And at some point,

every startup will need to add specialized

staff, such as a CFO, to keep things run-

ning smoothly and ensure the CEO is not

involved in every decision.

Final Advice: Go Fast and Make Things

Speed has tremendous value when you

are scaling. It makes your cash last longer,

generates results that energize your team,

and makes your company more attractive

to funders. That’s why we coach entrepre-

neurs to “go fast and make things.”

You can move quickly and make real pro-

gress. But you need to avoid jumping the