Which Pillars Should you Have in Place Ahead of Aggressive Growth?

As a scaleup, your focus is all about growth, growth, growth - which is great.

But if you want to undertake aggressive growth as you scale, it won’t come to fruition without hurdles, meaning you will need to utilise specific measures to successfully run operations, mitigate risks, handle funding and hire more talent.

Let’s have a closer look at the four pillars to put in place as you prepare to scale on a mission.

PILLAR #1: Optimise your operations

As a small business owner, wanting to scale, you’ve got to be able to navigate the necessary changes to the internal structures of your business, oversee an increase in production and also look at and adapt your own role, as more will likely be required of you. 

Preparation is key. As you move from being a small business to a medium-sized enterprise, make sure you do these four things to get your operations sorted:

Redefine your role

When you run a small business, you have to oversee a variety of roles - from sales, to finances, marketing, and production. As a result, you are able to directly manage many aspects of the business and retain more control over resources being used. 

But when you scale, you’ve got to be able to delegate these duties to other managers. Your role will become far more focused on the overarching business and goals, and ensuring that all players in the business are working towards a common vision.

Develop detailed procedures

In order for a bigger team to operate efficiently, they’ve got to know exactly what is expected of them. You need to create procedures for each department that specifically outline how they are required to perform their jobs successfully. They should be able to run self-sufficiently without any need for micromanagement from you.

Hire a finance guru

Naturally, if you want to grow, you’re going to need more resources to help you. Whether expanding your workspace or hiring more employees, you need to make sure you’ve got enough money in the pot. The best thing to do? Hire a finance professional. 

You’ll have a lot of financing options to choose from, which can feel a little daunting when you have lots of other tasks on your plate. An expert will help you make the best choice for your specific business, while saving you the headache.

Work on your relationships

No, we are not speaking about the number of times you call your mum to check in (although you should do that too), but rather about your business network.

As you’ve probably realised by now, your network plays a crucial role in helping you to grow, as the connections you make might lead to investments, new hires, partnerships, or more resources.

Therefore, you shouldn’t try to scale until you have a big enough and strong network that can help you do it effectively.

PILLAR #2: Secure enough funding 

As mentioned above, when you grow, you need more money to help you survive, and the best way to get that money is through funding. 

As a smaller business you may not have needed to engage with the funding process before. Do not fear, we’ve got you covered. 

There are two investment schemes you can look into which will help you acquire funding from investors: the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). 

The schemes are specifically designed for small-to-medium businesses and provide potential investors with the incentive of tax relief if they invest in a business. In order for this investment partnership to work, the investor and the business need to be eligible for registering with the scheme. 

SEIS

• For early-stage companies
• Investors can put in a total of £100,000 per tax year
• Investors get 50% tax break and Capital Gains Tax exemption

EIS

• For medium-size businesses
• Investors can put in up to £1 million per tax year.
• Investors get 30% tax break and benefit from Capital Gains Tax exemption

PILLAR #3: Manage how you handle risk

There are a number of risks that come with growing a business, which are often inevitable. However, mitigating risks will force you to put processes and actions in place that will only benefit your business. 

Here are a few ways you can ensure that financial risk does not get the best of you:

• Inform yourself on which tax reliefs and allowances you have access to to ensure you remain tax compliant
• Keep an ear out for any extensions to the carryback period of losses. This year, the Chancellor announced one, and it provided businesses with a cash flow benefit of up to £760,000
• Make use of R&D tax relief

PILLAR #4: Get the right people for the job, and keep them

You can’t grow a business all on your own.

In order to scale successfully, you need to surround yourself with a team of highly-skilled and motivated employees. But attracting new hires and retaining the ones who stuck it out during the startup phase requires implementing an incentive programme.

A company that’s growing inevitably puts more pressure on its people, therefore there needs to be some sense of reward in place to keep your team onboard. 

Everyone you choose to move through this next phase of growth with you needs to be as passionate about your business as you are.

If you hire people whose goals and values are aligned with the business’s, and run a business that respects the personal goals and values of its people, then you’ll likely have built a team who will play to win. 

Once you have got all four of above pillars in place, and are confident about the structures you have set up, you’ll take your business to new heights.