Getting to Scale: 4 Essentials for Startup Growth

It’s what every startup strives for in order to get to the next stage: scalable growth. These four core functions are the building blocks you need to make startup growth and scalability happen.

“The process of scaling your company generally means doing all the things necessary to go from small to big,” writes Alan Ying, a Venture Partner at Chrysalis Ventures, in this guest post for Inc. “That may mean changing the revenue model, employee management, technology, operational processes, or customer support… [but] one particular challenge relating to scale is…expanding beyond the founder or the founding team.” Simply put, once a company grows beyond a certain point it is close to impossible for founders to do everything on their own.

According to Ying, the four basic functions founders need to transition to a senior management team are outlined in what he refers to as the JIGE framework: judgement (strategy and decision making), ideas (creativity and problem solving), glue (coordination and management), and execution (motivation and delivery of day-to-day results). “Of course, the founders may actually be able to do all these functions better than anyone else, at least while the company is small,” Ying writes. “I’m not saying you should abdicate power. Rather, parcel out parts of the JIGE you’re least good at, and give yourself a chance to scale.”