There are three main approaches to startup scaling, but one is clearly better than the others.
Scaling is one of the most important phases for a startup, allowing a company to attract more clients, more revenue, and a bigger profile. Whether your goal is making more money, changing the world, or just making a bigger name for yourself, you'll need your business to scale at some point. There are three distinctive potential approaches to scaling, but how do they work, and which one is best?
1. Aggressive. The aggressive approach is often used by excited entrepreneurs who want to grow as quickly as possible. They secure a massive injection of capital, and try to invest as heavily as they can in a number of areas, including staff, infrastructure, and advertising. If done correctly, this can allow your company to scale quickly, but it's more likely that you'll end up investing in the wrong things and overextending your already-sensitive budget.
2. Passive. A passive strategy attempts to correct the faults of an aggressive strategy. The goal here is to let the business grow on its own, only investing when absolutely necessary or when free cash is available. This is a conservative strategy, and is unlikely to kill your business, but it also prevents consistent or strong growth.
3. Balanced. A balanced strategy attempts to correct for the weaknesses of both the aggressive and passive strategy. It requires investing in a number of different areas, but only when feasible and never in a way that overextends the business's resources.
Overall, the balanced approach is the best way to handle your startup's scaling process, but that doesn't mean you can't learn anything from the aggressive or passive approaches. Try to create an approach that works best for your business, and don't be afraid to make adjustments if you need to along the way.