The document outlines 40 essential strategies for start-ups to scale effectively, emphasizing the importance of hiring quality talent, fostering a strong company culture, and maintaining a focus on profitability. Key practices include streamlining operations, prioritizing leadership development, and leveraging market intelligence to stay competitive. Emphasis is placed on continuous improvement and maintaining a proactive approach to management and decision-making.

1. 40 THINGS EVERY
START-UP SHOULD
DO TO SCALE UP
From the book ‘Scaling Up’ by Verne Harnish

2. 1
Hire Fewer People,
But Pay Them More

3. 2
No Team Can Be So Big That It Can’t Be
Fed With 2 Pizzas

4. 3
If more than one person is accountable, then
no one is accountable, and that’s when things
start falling through the cracks.

5. 4
Hire people who don’t need to be
managed, and regularly wow the team
with their insights and output.

6. 5
Leaders must hire people who are
better than them.

7. 6
Heads of Business Units need to lead as
if they are individual CEOs.

8. 7
Use the Lean technique - Eliminate time
wasted on activities that don’t add
value for customers / clients.

9. 8
The cost of a bad hire is 15x his or her
salary (according to TopGrading)

10. 9
You need a strange culture and strange
strategy to differentiate your firm in the
marketplace.

11. 10
It’s better to do 3-4 hours of interview
instead of spending hundreds of hours of
headaches if you hire the wrong person

12. 11
Failure to develop sufficient leadership
is one of the three biggest barriers to
growth

13. 12
Focus on eliminating or delegating
tasks that drain you.

14. 13
Great Managers discover what is different
about people and capitalise on it

15. 14
Onboarding needs to be a celebration. Throw
a party for people who join the company
instead of doing it when they leave

16. 15
Modern Careers are like rock climbing where
top does not have to be the goal. Getting
across the rock face or reaching another spot
can be more exciting & rewarding.

17. 16
Organise your employee handbook into
sections around each Core Value

18. 17
Deadlines cannot be an excuse for making
mistakes. Be quick but don’t hurry!

19. 18
Identify your one-phrase strategy which represents
key lever in your business model that drives
profitability and helps you choose which customer
desires to meet and which ones to ignore.

20. 19
A company can outperform rivals only if
it can establish a difference that it can
preserve.

21. 20
If everyone can accomplish one thing in
addition to his or her daily job, that’s a
dozen improvements every quarter, or
hundreds.

22. 21
Knowing what trends are going to
shake up your industry — and having a
plan for dealing with them — will help
you stay ahead of the competition

23. 22
Quarterly Theme is a fun motif you can use
in your internal marketing to rally
everyone around achieving your
Critical Number.

24. 23
Senior leaders need to be in the market
80% of the week, either figuratively or
literally.

25. 24
• What should we start doing?
• What should we stop doing?
• What should we keep doing?
3 questions you should ask your recent hires.

26. 25
• How are you doing?
• What’s going on in your industry/ neighborhood?
• What do you hear about our competitors?
• How are we doing?
4 questions leaders should ask clients in person (not
on a survey).

27. 26
Share insights from conversations with
clients at the executive team’s weekly
huddle. Don’t bog down the process
with a bunch of written reports.

28. 27
Whichever competitor has the most
market intelligence, and uses it, wins.

29. 28
All executives and middle managers
should have a coach (or peer coach)
holding them accountable for
behavioral changes.

30. 29
Make sure that the Core Values, Purpose, and
Priorities are posted throughout the
company. These can be displayed on walls,
floors, ceilings or even in the boardroom.

31. 30
Most matters can wait for the daily huddle or the
weekly meeting. Bigger issues, which
necessitate getting everyone in a room for a few
hours, can be addressed during the monthly
management meeting.

32. 31
Avoid checking up on whether someone did
something the previous day. Looking forward
is great management; and looking backward
is micromanagement.

33. 32
Line up all your meetings in a day instead
of spreading them over in a week.

34. 33
Have your CFO give you a cash report
everyday. Observing the sources of cash
flowing in & out on a daily basis gives real
insight into your business’s financial model.

35. 34
Find ways to speed up & move cash more
quickly through the business. Eg. Specify a
due date on the invoice rather than include
the standard due in 30 days.

36. 35
10% (profit) is the new breakeven. Once you
add new labor and profitability drops, hold
labor costs steady and grow back to 15%
profit. Keep repeating the cycle.

37. 36
Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, and
cash flow is king.

38. 37
Midsize businesses should target at
minimum a 30% return on net assets.

39. 38
Success belongs to those who have
these two attributes:
1. An insatiable desire to learn
2. An unquenchable bias for action

40. 39
And along the journey, there is a set of
habits — routines — that will make the
climb easier. “Routine sets you free”

41. 40
And lastly, whatever you do, avoid
doing everything all at once. One step
at a time.

42. Thanks & Keep In Touch!
Creator: Kanchan Lad | @Socialpaparazzi
Any questions?
You can find us at: @hmarketer | hello@happymarketer.com

43. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
▧ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
▧ Photographs by Unsplash
▧ Backgrounds by Pixeden