{"id":446,"date":"2016-04-11T20:55:17","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T10:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/?p=446"},"modified":"2016-04-09T13:13:55","modified_gmt":"2016-04-09T03:13:55","slug":"your-startup-doesnt-have-to-be-globally-scalable-if-you-dont-want-it-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/your-startup-doesnt-have-to-be-globally-scalable-if-you-dont-want-it-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Your startup doesn\u2019t have to be globally scalable if you don\u2019t want it to be"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Jon Westenberg<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\"ladder-640x332\"<\/a>There\u2019s a lot of pressure put on young entrepreneurs \u2013 the pressure to only build scalable startups, rather than focusing their efforts on any other type of business.<\/p>\n

You can see this almost everywhere. If you\u2019re not building high growth software or platforms, you\u2019re seen as wasting your time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s snobbish, and it\u2019s dangerous. It relies on the idea that there are businesses that are inherently better than others. And they\u2019re only the businesses that have room to become $100,000,000 companies.<\/p>\n

For some people, going scalable is the right path. They\u2019ll be happy. They\u2019ll achieve incredible things. But their path isn\u2019t the only viable path.<\/p>\n

Mark Suster talks about this in his piece \u201cWhat should you do with your crappy little services business<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

There are always going to be entrepreneurs who are better suited to building a web design firm, a clothing label or a consulting business than a software platform. That\u2019s common sense.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\n
\n
\n

If you\u2019re looking to start a business, there are really only three concerns that you have to think about. Only three.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Will I make money?<\/li>\n
  2. Will I be proud of what I\u2019ve built?<\/li>\n
  3. Will I enjoy the work?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I cannot stress enough the important of those three points. They sum up the only three reasons to get into a business in the first place.<\/p>\n

    You want to turn a profit, you want to build an asset you\u2019re proud of and you want to enjoy yourself.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s really that straight-forward. There\u2019s not a whole lot more that you need to consider before you take the leap.<\/p>\n

    THE RIGHT BUSINESS TO BUILD IS THE ONE YOU WANT TO BUILD<\/h5>\n

    I know an entrepreneur who is building an incredible service-based startup. They work in the professional services sector and they are turning over huge profits, well beyond their overheads.<\/p>\n

    He\u2019s a sole founder, and a successful one. We\u2019re talking millions in profit with no shareholders to worry about.<\/p>\n

    We talked over a few drinks recently and the topic of scalable businesses came up. He told me that when he first started, he used to be hugely concerned about the fact that the only way to scale his business was by hiring staff and establishing satellite offices.<\/p>\n

    But he\u2019d slowly realised that he loved his business. He loved what they were selling and the clients they were reaching. There was no point in trying to chase a growth factor of X, because he already had sustainable growth in his current model. And he was enjoying his business.<\/p>\n

    It would be insane to suggest that a startup of a similar size that was attempting to raise investment and build towards hyper-growth is somehow better than his business. Sure, it might have a higher valuation and its founders might end up a lot richer, but it\u2019s not inherently better.<\/p>\n

    The right business to build isn\u2019t the one everyone else wants. It\u2019s the one you want. It\u2019s the one that you can see yourself still building in the next 10\u201315 years. It\u2019s the one that you can put your blood, sweat, tears and time into when anyone else would have walked away.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s the one that\u2019s calling to you.<\/p>\n

    Source:\u00a0StartupSmart<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By:\u00a0Jon Westenberg<\/strong><\/p>\n

    There\u2019s a lot of pressure put on young entrepreneurs \u2013 the pressure to only build scalable startups, rather than focusing their efforts on any other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cruzandco.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}