Startup to Scaleup – bridging the gap

With 70% of startups failing due to premature scaling (11 Surprising and Insightful Statistics About Startups, Forbes, 2019) the ability to bridge the gap between startup and scaleup is vitally important to an organisation’s future success. In the startup environment where the focus is usually on people and agility rather than process and consistency it can be difficult to shift this mindset and culture as an organisation moves to scaled operations and growth. This in turn can lead to a blind spot around systems and process where it can become expedient to plug operational gaps with third party systems (or experienced operators) rather than focusing on the key part process plays in an organisation’s scaling of operations for long term success.

While systems introduce new capability and generate consistency, a common pitfall is for a startup’s processes to be defined (and limited) by a chosen system rather than the other way around. Most competent ITSM tools offer reasonable capability out of the box for generic organisations. The real opportunity for strategic thinkers is to leverage that system with good process mapping and a sound implementation strategy to deliver next-level value. Typical benefits would include process enablement tailored to your organisation’s structure and culture, internal performance uplift to drive efficiency and cost effectiveness, and enabling value distinction through an exceptional customer experience.

When you introduce the concept of holistic maturity to an organisation, it’s strategic goals, available tools, best practice frameworks, current processes, and culture; navigating these investment and implementation choices can become quite challenging. Typical questions include:

• Is the end-goal for our startup to be acquired or to scale to larger success?

• Is our organisation structure setup for operational success?

• Are we ready to adopt a more process defined operational culture?

• Do we have a good understanding of how to implement and then mature the necessary processes as we scale?

• Do we know which processes are a priority to invest in depending on our maturity?

• Is the tool or system we are seeking aligned with our program of growth or will we need to re-invest as we transition to another one in 18 months?

• Is our current maturity, risk appetite, and controls framework in sync to deliver on our strategic goals?

For an organisation that has been focused on establishing products and services the switch to scaling operations for consistent delivery, service distinction and customer value can be a daunting task. If your organisation is in (or around) stage 6 of the startup lifecycle (Scaling), I would love to discuss how we can assist in this area and can be contacted directly on 0409285045 or owenflynn@zenitil.com.au