For Founders in Growth Mode: 10 Principles to Avoid the Most Costly Mistakes
The decisions you make in a growth-stage company don't just risk burning the financial runway. They can also burn the personal energy you need to make it all happen. These ten principles are what I've learned over ten years and through two exits about protecting both runways at once.
When you have a decision in front of you and don’t know what to do next, start here.
Read through each principle and notice which one you've been ignoring.
That's usually the answer.
ALIGN SUPERPOWERS. As companies grow, people start absorbing responsibilities by default. Don’t let that happen. Define where skill meets motivation for every player. Failure to do this will result in ambiguity and related assumptions that lead to mismanaged expectations, poor decisions, and in-fighting. And while you’re doing all that, your competitors are busy getting ahead.
MVP. MVP. MVP. Do not sign up for heavy commitments early on. Do you need that tool right this minute? That subscription? That lease? That shiny new hire? These commitments accumulate and you’ll run out of runway and fail under your own weight.
SEQUENCE YOUR PATH. You have big plans, I know. But you can’t do it all at once. And when you’re doing everything which advances nothing then you’ll be stuck treading water or drowning. What’s the one thing that will build the biggest momentum? Do that, and then build the plan to grow the snowball, ride the wave, or whatever visual you love.
SIMPLIFY. Here’s the thing that’s hard about this – you have to get messy first before you can simplify. If it was all already figured out then you’d just build a franchise. Get messy, and then constantly clean it up and distill it into your raison d’etre and messaging: Why are you here? Why should anyone care?
FIND THE SIGNAL. Conduct experiments in the business to see what’s working and where you have problems. This usually involves discomfort because people don’t like to be exposed. If the issue is “I have no source of truth to see what’s working,” then reduce the noise. Give people fewer accounts or projects. When there’s less to juggle, it becomes very clear who is driving results and where things are breaking down.
BET ON THE SIGNAL. It’s not enough to just uncover the signal – now, what are you going to do with this information? For example, if the business issue is “we’re not growing fast enough,” and you test performance across segments with drastic variations, then you need to make real tradeoffs. That often means saying no to opportunities – no to quick but low-margin deals, no to that big RFP that will drain your resources – and doubling down where you’re seeing scalable traction.
PICK UP THE PHONE. You may have the best intentions. Trust your team. And have all the feel-goods. But without explicit communications, problems happen. Speak directly and in person to ensure alignment (what exactly do YOU mean be “pilot”? “POC”?) and resolve lingering questions and issues the same day they happen. Seriously, get out of Slack / Teams / Chats / Text messages and make a call. It can be uncomfortable, at first. But the more you do it, the easier it becomes, the more other people do it, and then you are winning while everyone else is dealing in friction.
GO WITH THE FLOW. Don’t get fixed on specific outcomes, but DO create the right conditions for positive ones. This mindset is challenging because it seems at odds with the business environment. You have targets to hit, a business to grow, a plan to execute. It’s literally your job to drive results. But the reality is: you don’t control outcomes. Don’t get stuck trying to force one that isn’t happening. Instead, go with the flow, reassess, and redirect your energy to a better use.
DON’T MEET FORCE WITH FORCE. As Tai Chi teaches, the more you push back against force, the more you risk getting hurt. You can't stop a punch in mid-air, you'll just get hit. Stay relaxed, redirect the energy, and ask questions instead of pushing back. You'll reach a deeper understanding and move faster.
LOOK IN FRONT OF YOU. The next big thing, shiny red balls, competitor moves – do they hold all of your answers, or are these distractions? Sometimes what you’re looking for is already right in front of you…or, perhaps, within you. Look there first
