The art of scaling-up

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Sun Tzu stated that the art of war is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. So similar to a start-up:  a goal, scaling-up to win, strategy and ultimately success.  Imagine a start-up flush with funds having a bout of inertia or just goes haywire with the burn rate.  Scaling-up, the start-up needs energy and escape velocity to get out of this rut. One can adapt a lot from Sun Tzu’s Art of War, chapter five aptly called “Energy.”

1. Control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. Success can be achieved by the ability to delegate the tasks to achieve overall goals, without forgetting the strategic position.
2. If you just came from a cushy larger process driven organization and you grapple with smaller task force at a start-up, it is a matter of instituting signs and signals. Communication and coordination is critical when every task could seem like a priority without a defined process.
3. To prevail over the whole untested market, shared goals and building a strong morale is a must. Hire people who believe in the vision, and not journeymen.
4. Traditional methods may work all the time to sell, but be prepared to pivot to use any other medium or charting your own path. Define a revenue model, sooner than later once the value proposition is acceptable to your test market.
5. Follow the rules and improvise, remember you set the rules for your start-up. It is a continuous cycle in an infinite loop.
6. The onset of troops is like the rush of a torrent which will even roll stones along in its course. Customers can see the conviction and the demonstrated ability to move heaven and earth to engage them.
7. Careful planning looks like good luck. Keep the momentum and flow going, once you get the timing right.
8. The actions of a start-up can seem chaotic, too, yet if you know why things are the way they are, the start-up can stay in control in the complex marketplace. Control amidst the chaos of battle comes with skill, which comes from study, practice and preparation.
9. Leadership or the clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy. Hence the ability to pick out the right men and utilize the generated synergy will give the necessary propulsion.

Similar to a war, leadership is responsible and accountable for the idea to flourish. Should the startup scale up or engage the customers?  Don’t sweat the small stuff or reinvent things - get a commercial cloud solution or an off the rack ERP solution? So many questions, so little time. At the current survival rate of start-ups of 10%, it makes a ton of sense to do what it takes.

My first brush with start-ups was in the year 2000 as a coach in Mckinsey’s pro-bono project “India Venture 2000” to convert some 1000s of ideas into a commercial reality. Since then, I have worked with different start-ups as a volunteer expert.

Previously published on LinkedIn on Nov 9, 2015