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PAPER NAPKIN WISDOM GROWTH HUB
Scale
The best Paper Napkin Wisdom conversations on scale, chosen and in order.
Scaling a business usually gets harder before it gets bigger. Michael Walsh shows why with simple math. Four people share 6 relationships. Sixteen share 120. A hundred share 4,950. He also maps where growing service firms stall. Near $2 million, just past $5 million, approaching $10 million, and again from $12 to $20 million. His conclusion is that the culprit is people, and the solution is people.
Greg Crabtree found growth was subtraction. He gave up clutter, comfort and control. Mark Moses works backwards from three years to one quarter, then measures activity every week. Jim Brown's napkin is four words. Healthy enough is dangerous.
In a recent Edge of the Napkin episode I wonder whether the wall many founders hit is one they built. The ability that solved every problem on the way to $2 million can hold the company still.
“Problem solvers make companies work, problem predictors make companies grow.”
Kirk Dando, Episode 75
Start here: the top 10
1
Why Your Business Gets Harder to Run as It Grows: Michael Walsh
Episode 247 · Michael Walsh pt 3
Why a business gets harder to run as headcount grows.
2
Why Growth Stalls at $2M, $5M and $10M: Michael Walsh's Danger Zones
Episode 244 · Michael Walsh pt 2
Why growth stalls at $2M, $5M and $10M: the danger zones.
3
Why Better Procedures Won't Grow Your Business: Patrick Gentempo
Episode 110 · Patrick Gentempo
Better procedures run today's business; they don't build a bigger one.
4
Why Problem Solvers Stall Growth: Kirk Dando on Predictive Leadership
Episode 75 · Kirk Dando
Why heroic problem-solving founders stall growth.
5
Growth Is Subtraction: What Greg Crabtree Gave Up to Grow
Episode 15 · Greg Crabtree
Growth is subtraction: what you give up to grow.
6
When the Wall You're Hitting Is One You Built Yourself
Episode 406 · Edge of the Napkin
The revenue wall founders build themselves, one approval at a time.
7
Why "Healthy Enough" Is the Most Dangerous Thing a Growing Company Can Be
Episode 405 · Jim Brown
'Healthy enough' as the biggest risk to a growing company.
8
Your Revenue Is Hiding in Plain Sight: Sailynn Doyle on the 80/20 Rule
Episode 321 · Sailynn Doyle
The 80/20 rule applied to finding where revenue really comes from.
9
If You Can't Measure It, You Can't Manage It: Mark Moses on Growth
Episode 112 · Mark Moses
If you can't measure it you can't manage it: measurable growth goals (Mark Moses).
10
Give Your Business a Monthly Physical: Michael Caito on Vital Factors
Episode 91 · Michael Caito
A monthly physical for the business: the KPI review that keeps growth on track.
The Growth Pattern Diagnostic
The Growth Pattern Diagnostic places your company against those same four danger zones in about three minutes and gives you a 90-day watch list.
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