How do we become a fast growth company?
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Dear Aunty B
We are a profitable software company and have done our own R&D out of cashflow. We have been growing incrementally for years.
I am doing this year’s plan and I don’t have any new big ideas. I also feel we are not reaching our true potential. How do we become a fast growth business?
Lex,
Baulkham Hills NSW
Dear Lex,
Nice problem to have in the current environment! Look, don’t knock being a profitable, stable company. That is a terrific success and you could be far worse off.
You certainly don’t want to knock yourself too far off course with any big plans either.
If you don’t have the big idea for the next phase of growth, you can try to import it. Hold a strategic retreat with top managers and supporters, gather their views and do an innovation review on them (or bring in someone to do that).
You could develop an advisory board or seek advice from your own board. You could also bring in some consultants in specialist areas to report on possibilities, risk and development costs. Or you could target key people in your industry and plan a long series of lunches and coffees to pick their brains.
Don’t forget to read every case study you can lay your eyes on. Often an idea from an entrepreneur in another industry will provide the way forward.
The idea might be under your nose or even something you have dismissed in the past but the time is now right to roll it out.
Remember that high growth comes from taking lots of very small steps.
One more tip from me – make sure you are not bored and pushing your business to satisfy your own need to do something new!
Your Aunty B
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