How to Scale Up your Startup?

 

It is a question that all many entrepreneurs ask themselves; will my startup ever scale up when and how? Unfortunately, global statistics show that only 1 in 200 startups become actual scale-ups. Nepal itself does not provide an enabling environment for startups, particularly post lockdown. It is believed that a fourth of startups have had to shut down due to reduced market demand and little government support. During these testing times, what exactly can you do to challenge these unfavorable statistics? 

 
The terms startup and scaleup are often used to define a type of organization but refer to the company's growth stages. Both aim for similar growth and impact but they are in different stages of their business life cycle. A startup can be defined as a new company with big growth plans and without geographic restrictions, its mission is to find a repeatable scalable business model. Experimentations are still occurring with things such as segmentation, product features, and costs. A startup is still in the early stages of finding the right market for its product and trying to secure funding. Until a business model has been proved to work and revenue has begun scaling, a startup cannot become a scaleup. 

In order to become a successful scaleup, there are several fundamentals that need to be taken care of within the startup phase. The first, committing to growth. As a business owner, you must want to make a dent in your industry and even society and must be serious about wanting to scale your business. Realistic growth targets must be set, along with concrete plans and actions of how growth shall be achieved. 

Enhancing your leadership skills is essential, it encourages and stimulates action from workers by innovating them in planning and decision-making activities. Scaling up requires an expanded skill set and will require building a team with broad and complementary talents. It is advised to hire people accordingly, find mentors, surround yourself with others who have already scaled up, and absorb their knowledge and experience. Reading books, studying for the masters, and joining peer groups are all activities that will enhance your capabilities as a leader. The type of people that you need to hire is those who can do what a program cannot, they need to be full of great ideas and provide skills that can be transferred to different tasks in order for you to stay flexible and agile in the face of constant change. Ensure your team is aligned and also committed to growth, your culture must embrace personal growth and transparency.  

Creating a standardized and repeatable process shall free up your time and resources. Ensure to implement them with the correct delegation. Initially, this may require investment in IT systems and training, however, this will pay off in the long run. It shall allow you to access data faster, hire faster, market better, pay easier and streamline operations for a truly scalable model.  

A startup cannot scale up if nobody knows about it. With a focus on marketing, scalability shall follow. Find out which marketing channels bring you the biggest return of investment, this will require testing. Use data to support your decisions and after testing, implement the best marketing method as not every form of marketing is scalable. Direct marketing and word of mouth are not usually enough to market your business properly, especially when starting out. In the digital world that we are now living in, social media is an excellent place to begin, however ensuring it is done to a professional standard is of the utmost importance.

 
The factors that have been discussed here may not come naturally during the early stages of a business life cycle, however, they are fundamental to a successful start-up. NRS’s Support Startup Program is designed to formulate a strategy and opportunity for struggling startups. The highly experienced consultants involved with analyzing each individual startup are to provide ways in which startups can boost their marketing, assist the founders and CEOs with leadership as well as create business plans. Winners of the program are also entitled to ISO certifications to improve credibility, use the free digital marketing services NRS offer and use the recruitment facilities to help build the perfect team required for success.