Business Growth Framework - Scaleup Stage

This framework is the starting point for much of the work we do at Build Grow Last.

At the startup stage we completed the process of defining what the business is and what it does, we used to be thinking about experiementation and pivots but we’ve completed those now. It’s time to scale. Scaling means doing more of the same without a loss of quality or an increase in costs. This is about

  • Building the business that can deliver for 1000’s rather than 10’s

  • Hiring teams to do this work to a template

  • Bringing in leaders and managers so we can move away from the details

Marketing

We’re past asking ourselves what works because we know that we can attract customers, we now need to do this at a larger level. Remember we’re going to build a business that can service lots more customers so we need to make sure those customers are ready.

  • What does out marketing team look like?

  • Should we use agency folks, or be all in-house?

  • How will we track our successes as we grow?

But don’t forget to leave some space for innovation? Social platforms and customer preferences change.

Sales

It’s time to take the leaders out of the sales process. That doesn't mean you’ll never speak to a customer again but the process, the craft, of selling needs to be within a new selling team. They’ll bring you in when they need you but the chasing and negotiation is up to them.

  • How will we recruit and incentivise a sales team?

  • What tools will they need to understand and keep track of their customers?

  • How will you know that they are being successful, what will we track?

Sales can be volatile in your business, expect to steady this part of the ship and stay close to these folks.

Operations

The operations of the business need to run like a Swiss watch when you add growth. Any ‘leakage’ in your processes or technology will immediately become a human problem with a human fix and that will not scale for us.

  • Build on the templates and tools from the prior stage, use specialist people and tech for your industry and sector.

  • Manage what’s happening, you’ll need to build reporting to make sure you know that the work is being done and what’s holding the processes back.

  • Make investments here that will last for years, you’ve proven you can do it, now double down on longevity

Discussion Topic: Making Improvements

Operational excellence requires systems that support both incremental improvement and periodic redesign. Build Kaizen into your weekly routines -metrics reviews, small automations, SOP updates—and Kaikaku into your quarterly or annual planning—platform migrations, pricing resets, new delivery models. Treat Kaikaku as a sprint with a clear scope, timebox, and post-implementation “lock-in” phase so the gain sticks. The goal is dual-speed operations: smooth daily execution with enough elasticity to reinvent parts of the system without breaking it.

References:

Team

At this stage, your team becomes the engine of the business, and your job shifts from personally delivering the work to building an environment where others can consistently deliver at a high standard.

  • Misalignment slows execution - small gaps in clarity, role expectations, or communication compound quickly as headcount grows.

  • Managers are developing, not developed - the business now relies on emerging leaders who need support, coaching, and structure to succeed.

  • Culture becomes what you tolerate - behaviours that go unaddressed at 10 people become system-wide norms at 30.

Discussion Topic: Handling hard conversations

As teams grow, small misunderstandings compound into operational friction, performance issues surface more frequently, and leaders are stretched across more people than they can intuitively “manage by feel.” Founders often discover that avoidance is now expensive. This is the moment where structured conversations become a strategic asset.

To support this, we provide three practical tools (links to worksheets below):

Finances

When your business machine is humming away you need to start to run it from the books rather than from the shop floor. Scaling business owners bring in finance professionals to help them think in multi-year terms when it comes to building teams and infrastructure.

  • Consider a fractional CFO to build out financially sound growth plans

  • Think about funding options for your scale, you’ll move faster than you will against cashflow funding

  • Hand over book keeping to a reasonably sized accountants, make sure they have clients of your target size

Stay close to the numbers too, you should be getting monthly accounts and weekly process reports.

Essential Reading: Any ‘small business’ guide. Most of them are the same in the basics and they will help you understand what’s needed and answer any questions you might not want to ask the accountant.

Profit First, Mike Michalowicz. If you didn't begin using ‘Profit First’ in the startup stage, now is the time. As the money starts to grow the structure, discipline and habits need to follow and this is the place to start. .

The Oxford Dictionary of Accounting. Because folks will throw terms at you that you need definitions off (not the random opinions of the internet!)

Legal

Your lawyer will start to take you to lunches around this point, you’ve moved from a ‘now and again’ client to one that needs much more help. Lean on this support, even when it’s expensive.

  • Contracts are part of the process, not optional, automate this

  • Your IP has a value, protect it carefully.

  • Understand your legal responsibilities to your growing team

When you get to the later stages these legal aspects protect you from attack and maximise the value you’re building in the business.

Compliance

With size comes scrutiny, make sure you understand what regulations ‘kick in’ as you get bigger. Consider hiring a firm to manage compliance for you, or at least allow time for operational leadership to manage this in house.

  • We should always be within compliance, no remedial work needed.

  • This is part of the culture. Safety, security, hygiene, they are just how things are done.

It’s tricky to put yourself in the role of the auditor, but it’s good to do before one attends the office.

R&D

Here’s the paradox. As you scale what’s working you need to be scanning the horizon for what’s next. This is a key role for you as a leader. The organisation that does a few things very well will create it’s own inertia to change. You are the one that can release the brakes, rally the troops, change the course.

  • Carve out time for R&D, get the people who think ahead out of the office and in a room

  • There’s not a rush, you can plan time for innovation and release when it’s ready. Take your time and wow your market.

Leadership

You’re moving from being the hub to empowering the leaders around you. Take your time but set the boundaries. Allow people to make mistakes and use these as chances for learning.

Set a direction and check in often. Start here:

  • Define the roles, then let them get on with it.

  • Delegate your authority, and set expectations about reporting back

  • Build the leadership culture. No-nonsense, businesslike, satisfying, playful - what works for you

People will follow clarity and consistency.

Discussion Topics: Kaizen vs Kaikaku

Great leaders know that progress isn’t linear. They set a cadence of improvement—steady ‘Kaizen’ most weeks, punctuated by Kaikaku moments that reshape the business. Leadership during the scaleup phase is a careful assessment of judging when to stabilise and when to reinvent. Too much Kaizen and you drift into complacency; too much Kaikaku and the team burns out. The leader’s task is to sense inflection points, create protected space for redesign, and then lock new patterns into daily rhythm. Coach the team to respect both tempos: continuous improvement as culture, reinvention as ritual.

References:

Mindset

You’ve got to let go. When the team is build you have to trust them and let them have at-it. No great business is bottlenecked on one leader and nor can yours be.

  • It’s OK to not know what you’re going to do today

  • Your job is to look ahead, anticipate problems and take advantage of opportunity.

  • You have to balance staying close with not getting in the way.

Leadership becomes about letting go, not doing more.

Essential Reading: Start with Why, Simon Sinek. This book asks us about motivation, why is the problem we’re solving important to solve. As we scale the road ahead can seem to take us away from our ‘Why’ because the act of scale takes us, founders, away from the action a little so it can help to take a reset point and a reminder of why what we’re doing matters in the world.