Startup executives should focus on new opportunities for growth and survival.

$1 MILLION TO $10 MILLION COMPANY CHALLENGES

Starting a company and growing it past $1 million in revenue is no small achievement. Roughly 75% of all US companies never achieve this mark. As the founder and CEO, you achieved this mark by seizing an opportunity, being aggressive, making intelligent decisions, and taking calculated risks.

Most startup companies take on a personality that reflects their founder. The founder is still the main driver of the company in sales, offering development and company culture.

That personality helps the company up to a point. In most companies, that ceiling is $10 million in revenue. After $10 million, it’s difficult for the CEO to “touch” all the areas they used to, and the activities and characteristics that made the company successful now start to work against it.

Profile of a $1 to $10 Million Startup Company

Characteristics Struggles
  • Cowboy management in place (by original founders or first employees)
  • Lack of identity
  • Over-committed founder
  • Sales efforts led by founder
  • Staff operating in multi-purpose mode based on highest need rather than strengths
  • Self-directed marketing
  • Corporate personality mimics that of founder
  • Daily cash flow
  • Staffing – it’s difficult to find the right people
  • Employee turnover
  • Company survival
  • Sales growth
  • Overwhelming competitive landscape
  • Long term competitive strategy

Executive Development to Build Startup Company Value

  • Hire a strong bookkeeper or accountant
  • Create structure around roles and identify the right people to handle them
  • Identify weaknesses in personnel and create improvement plans
  • Begin tracking key performance data
  • Create a selling system
  • Expand identity to create new opportunities/markets for your product/service
  • Separate marketing and selling functions
See the keys to building value in $10 to $25 million companies