Preparing your Startup to scale
One fine Friday morning in Mumbai,sipping hot chocolate and listening to Delna Avari's talk on Preparing my organization to Scale, I was inspired to write down a few things that I learnt from her session and from my own experiences over the past 15 years. Thank you Delna, you are always a big inspiration and Thank you empoWer2017 who made this possible with the Women in Tech Bootcamp! You guys rock!
Amidst the chaos and conundrum of growing customers vs managing everything possible in effectuation mode , startups often face this situation - With limited resources how do I serve constantly increasing demand? The answer is to find the best formula to scale.
While Growth will always need a linear increase in resources for revenues to increase, Scaling implies a rapid increase in revenue, with resources still going in linear mode.
Here are 5 tools that I guarantee will help you create an investable business, if put to use diligently.
1. Bring down complexity.
Our platform architect keeps harping on one crucial point always, and he is very right in doing so - Avoid complexity! In the temptation to quickly dish out solutions to attract a sale, we often might end up creating fast-food like systems or principles that may in the long run make the architecture complex. While your focus is on creating a strong foundation be it in the technology of your product,the operating model of your company or your business strategy, ensure the complexity is minimal always. And please do not compromise on Quality.A focus on delivery efficiency and quality will always be the winning formula ingredient.
Key : Rememeber always - Complexity costs money! . Einstein's field equations aren't 3 pages long. They are all one-liners yet describe entire universes so powerfully. Re-iterate to describe your models into equations that are small enough to be replicatable.
2. Aim for a wider customer base.
Segregate customizations to a seamless API layer. Keep the core generic and extensible. This may seem like a no-brainer but the big deal here is to realise the fine balance between making something too generic to be usable at all, and making something considerably dependent on a specific customer while losing out on the rest.
Key : Use the LEGO design principle and ask yourself if you can snap out blocks and reassemble them using minimal effort.
3. The Creator mimic.
From Latin dancing to Clinical Hypnotherapy to Quantum Physics to SuperIdentities, there is one pattern that I have observed and determined to be the most powerful to ensure success - Mimic nature! Create a self-sustaining loop that will feed itself and survive, evolve itself to become more intelligent with time, and adapt itself based on its environmental relevance and shifts in how its environment functions. While nature conserves energy and momentum, it prepares the seed for sustainability in every form.
Key : Are your systems built to sustain themselves, proliferate and scale? If no, then investigate where you could bring in two important things - Automation and Processes.
4. Proactive planning for rapid scale.
Remember resources always grow incrementally in a 3-d world, but customers or revenue can scale in exponential jumps. Your strategies and business models must equip themselves for rapid scale.
Key : Use a what-if. Define and Prepare for both best case and worst case scenarios.
5. Create a Clear strategy for growth and scale.
Bring in the right product-minded people. Package value-added services instead of customizations for repeated selling. Invest in metrics and analyse them.
Key : Visualize as clearly as possible what you would want your scaled business to look like, to feel like and to be like.
These are few of the principles we use at Bitgram. It is always our endeavour to make the most efficient systems that can serve global problems with Identity.
For more details visit
www.bitgram.in or write to me - pria@bitgram.in.
To know more about Delna visit
www.delnaavari.com
To explore the empoWer program and to know how it is carving a platform for Women in tech to shine, visit
empower
#empoWer #bitgram #empoWer2017, #womenintech #womenentrepreneurs #womenleaders
