What does it take for a startup to scale up?

Scalability is one of the very critical growth parameters for start-ups. It defines the ability of a start-up to grow and multiply without incurring much incremental costs. Investors generally bet on start-ups that have a clearly defined blueprint to scale up.

Interestingly, in the post-covid world, which is marked by spurred digitisation, there are new opportunities to scale up and grow. Today, even without an on-ground presence, with the help of digital channels a start-up can tap into new markets, verticals, and geographies thereby growing their business multi fold.

Nonetheless, scaling a business has its own challenges. The ideation and planning might look simple & straightforward but are often contradicted by ground realities, which are fraught with a multitude of bottlenecks.

Here are a few simple tips that might help upcoming businesses scale up fast and carefully navigate the potential risks:

Leverage networking opportunities

The more you know about what and who exists in the market, the better one can differentiate their offerings to find the proper support to scale at speed. Founders can leverage their network to find people scouting for their next big investment — angel investors and venture capitalists. Once an investor is identified in line with the startup's focus and working style, they can connect founders to potential buyers and offer advice on market and marketing strategies.

Automate and outsource

The past two years have proven that digital-first businesses are well prepared to adapt to unforeseen change. Introducing digitisation in business improves and streamlines processes, functions, and operational efficiency. The investment in tools and platforms that can automate manual tasks will increase team productivity giving your talent the time and space to be agile and responsive to changing market needs.

Focus on your people

It is essential for organisations to systematically invest in their employees, especially the ones who join the team early; by sharing your vision and empowering them with the tools they need to do their best. This instills a senseinstillsership, ensuring they can serve as custodians of your work culture and work ethic, even as the company continues to grow. Not to mention the overall strategic objectives of growth and transformation.

Focus on scalable marketing, communication

If you want to grow, people need to know about your startup. Marketing can help your business gain brand recognition and establish itself within the market. A solid marketing strategy can ease many of the pain points associated with scaling. Content creation and SEO are both forms of scalable marketing strategies. Content has the potential to go viral and drastically increase the attention your business is generating. Many startups value content generation because it is viewed as a potential growth hack. Meanwhile in content creation, one has to understand carefully the upcoming media platforms such as Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, telegram, etc.

Similarly, it is required to implement a focused media outreach and public relationship. Start-ups should engage with numerous media platforms, newspapers, trade magazines, start-up magazines, technology news sites, etc.

Make customer retention your top priority

Customer retention makes sense because it keeps your acquisition costs low while boosting profit. Retention also builds customer loyalty and helps you build a predictable revenue engine. When you're growing as a company, you need to keep tabs on what people say about your brand or when customers need support from you. Acquiring and retaining a loyal base of customers can give your business a great kickstart and also set the stage for future growth and transformation.

(The author is the Ridhima Kansal Director, Rosemoore)