• High financial risk
• Limited management team depth and breadth
• Little organization, systems and processes
• Endless work to get accomplished
• Multiple priorities and obstacles
• Generally insufficient resources to satisfy all demands
• Embryonic relationships with suppliers, customers and general business ecosystem
• Firm’s culture reflects personality of founder

• Create/continually refine vision of the business
• Establish/refine/validate business model
• Establish core technical and marketing expertise
• Build management team
• Drive early adoption/market validation
• Make things happen
• Carefully manage relationship with founder
• Survive

• Vision of the finished business
• Hands-on orientation: a ‘doer’ who leads from the front
• In-depth knowledge in critical technical and/or markets
• Organizing ability
• Staffing skills
• Team-building capabilities – can inspire followership
• High energy level, stamina
• Optimism/Resilience
• Personal magnetism: charisma
• Sales capabilities – internal and external
• Highly adaptive
• Broad knowledge of all key functions
• Creative/Improvisational
• Frugal
• Attention to detail – owner mindset
• Understands characteristics of founder-led businesses

Rapid Growth – Scaling

Thrust of the Job

Characteristics of the Candidate

• Moderate to high financial risk
• New markets, products, technologies
• Multiple demands and at times conflicting priorities
• Rapidly expanding organization
• Inadequate managerial/technical/financial resources to meet all demands
• Unequal growth across sectors of organization
• Likely shifting power bases as growth occurs
• Constant struggle between executing current work and building support systems for the future
• Processes, systems strained or simply not adequate
• Founder(s) may or may not still be involved – context can be delicate

• Increasing market share in key sectors
• Managing rapid change
• Building clear vision of the future
• Building capacity for growth
• Judiciously add process as the company can absorb it
• Add overall maturity but not at the cost of entrepreneurialism
• Building brand

• Excellent strategic and financial planning skills
• Clear vision of the future
• Ability to balance priorities, ie. stability versus growth
• Organizational and team building skills
• Moderate – high risk taker
• High energy level
• Excellent staffing skills
• Still hands-on with a bias for action but brings professional management skills and knowledge of processes to the table
• Experienced in the specific journey from the present to the future

Mature/Slow Growth

Thrust of the Job

Characteristics of the Candidate

• Controlled financial risk
• Main products/services viable and profitable
• Unattractive industry in long term
• Possible need to invest selectively, but major new investments may not be worthwhile
• Internal organizational stability
• Moderate to high managerial, technical competence
• Adequate systems and administrative infrastructure
• Acceptable to excellent relationships with suppliers, customers and environment

• Efficiency/Optimization
• Stability
• ​Succession
• Sensing signs of change
• Extract value

• Technically knowledgeable: Knows the business
• Sensitive to changes: Ear to the ground but operates within the box
• Anticipates problems
• Strong administrative skills
• Oriented to systems
• Strong relationship orientation
• Recognizes need for and nurtures management succession and development
• Oriented to getting the most out of the business: focus on efficiency more than growth
• Low risk orientation
• Professional manager

• Time pressure for results
• Need for rapid situational assessment and decision-making
• Poor results but business perceived to be worth saving
• Weak or weakening competitive position
• Eroded morale: low esteem/cohesion
• Inadequate systems: Possible weak or bureaucratic organizational infrastructure
• Strained and eroded relationships with suppliers, customers and environment
• Lack of appropriate leadership: period of neglect/decline
• Limited resources: Skills shortages: some incompetent personnel

• Rapid, accurate problem diagnosis
• Fixing short term and ultimately long term problems

• Take charge orientation: strong, decisive leader
• Strong analytical and diagnostic skills, especially financial
• Excellent business strategist
• High energy level
• Risk-taker
• Handles pressure well
• Good crisis management skills
• Good negotiator