Startup to Enterprise

This was an interesting one-liner which came up as a discussion point with a friend last noon. Both of us were sailing in the same boat of ‘enterprisation’ of a startup. Needless to say, with our hands totally dirtied in all aspects of the startup, we were of course feeling jittery about it. As always we had something in common to share when it came to an experience.

The night was filled with thoughts around how should an effort to move from a startup to an enterprise be. Where should the focus be and where should the effort go in. This is essential more from the perspective of retention of the ones who have put in their heart and soul to let the start up sustain and perform to feed the investors.

Any organization goes though the stages of survival, sustainability, scalability & glorification. In a startup it is more dynamic and the phases appear more often intersecting. But as the organizations mature, the degree of intersection does reduce! This is when the natives of the land feel that they are not contributing. They will not be so stretched; there won’t be any diversity at work & decision making powers will usually be stripped off. This will lead to boredom at work and as an eventuality, a disassociation. This usually coincides with the stage of growth for a startup and the impact will be huge - both psychologically & otherwise.

How do organizations avoid such situations?

Getting back to the old school of thoughts, there needs to a focused effort on the big picture of growth, failing which there will be turbulence in the concept of growth. An organization structure with the right mix of people (may be easier said than done - but this is essential) and an eventual role for the war heroes need to thought through. This will set a role expectation at the time of start and eventually stops them from being carried away due to the glory and wings.

Hire the people who can hire - this aspect of growth is usually missed or outsourced. If undone, the support structure needed for the growth will crumble down and eventually the growth as well. This is a usually neglected aspect of growth which will hurt the entire system in the long-run.

The top has to be visionary - the ones who have slogged their ass out at the initial stages are aggressive. They look forward to work with people who can make their life miserable. The moment a learning curve stops, there is a tendency to move on to the next challenge. Needless to say - without a stable head, the body is non-existent.

Policies need to have a thought process of improvement. Processes and policies are generally perceived to be work impairing. But the requirement of a policy should always be towards the betterment of the people involved. Else, it will backfire - especially if the transformation is from a startup to an enterprise.