Okay. So you've started your dream business, your very own start-up. If starting your own venture is difficult, scaling it up is an uphill task too. Like they say, becoming successful is one thing, maintaining the success is another. Scaling up your startup can never be an isolated process. It can only be achieved via effective teamwork.Merely having a breakthrough with starting your own venture provides no guarantee of a sustained and a continuous growth. There are numerous business models that’d gotten off the ground with great gusto but ended up crashing a few months later.
Reasons may vary from lack of investment to lack of planning. In such a scenario, it's extremely important to secure yourself on all fronts.
So, we have these 5 tips to scale up your startup. We're not asking you to treat these tips as the final and a foolproof solution to boost your business. But we guarantee you that incorporating these words of wisdom in your business model will definitely act as catalyst to broaden your business horizons.
Always be on a lookout for bigger and better opportunities
Launching a startup is only half work done. You cannot afford to be complacent even in the beginning. You need to, constantly, think of plans and ways to bring in more business for your startup.
According to Sachin Kamdar, CEO and co-founder of Parse.ly, an online analytical domain, you need to keep learning from your clients as well. He says, "After co-founding Parse.ly with my college roommate in 2009, we began to learn more about media companies' specific challenges and found opportunities to solve key problems. And when we saw opportunities to shift our company towards the most meaningful areas, we did it and didn’t look back."
Form your own dedicated team
Running a new startup is like moving into a new house. You cannot possibly imagine yourself moving into an unfurnished house, right? Similarly, it helps if you have all the people you need for the expansion of your business under one roof. Be it graphic designers, IT professionals, writers or technicians. Build a team that understands your nature of work.
Another thing you need to do is give a free reign to the people you hire within the ambit of their work. You cannot expect a designer to give his/her 100% if you're constantly nagging the person. You need to trust them. Like Sachin aptly sums it up, “Hiring people that you trust then giving them the responsibility to set their own tasks in order to achieve their goals, helps them to internalize while they’re doing something and take ownership for their success."
Build relationships. Not just connections
For most of the companies, relationship with their investors is strictly professional. The purpose is simple; raising funds for your company. While there's no denying of the fact that it is THE primary motive behind getting an investor, a smart move would be to treat them as your ally. Keep them updated as to how you're treating their money. Give them a constant re-assurance that their money is in safe hands. This will help you transcend the professional boundary.
And once you've earned the trust of your investors, you can always ask them to put you in touch with other people who might be interested in using your services. Sachin says, "I strongly suggest asking your contacts to connect you with companies they know who might be interested in your service. This was one of the main ways that we were able to build our network of media executives when we started to sell to them. Building a relationship with other contacts is also important."
Keep a tab on the social media
Ever heard of the phrase 'Out of sight, out of mind'? Well, it so turns out that the general public suffers from a short-term memory loss. However, keeping yourself socially relevant in today's day and age is a challenge made easy by social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Make sure you keep gauging public's interest from time-to-time so that you can tailor your services accordingly.
Keep re-orienting and re-assessing your goals
Make sure you keep assessing your growth from time-to-time. Hold timely meetings and in those meetings, never fail to drive home the point that growth is your company's priority number one. Hire a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) who can calculate the amount of traffic your website is generating. Work towards maximizing the same. It's very easy to give up hope in the initial stages. However, that's the time when you must stick to your guns.
You must be persistent but then, should also be flexible enough to adapt to the market changes. "Persistence serves
Scaling up a startup can be a painstaking task. It involves a lot of perseverance and patience. Perhaps that's the reason why 80% of the startups fail to achieve the glory they had intended to achieve. Working hard is not enough. You must know how to work smart as well. "Make sure that you’re ready to strike when the iron’s hot. If you stay around long enough, you’ll see the unique opportunity that can jettison your startup,” says Sachin.
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