When Business Growth Creates New Challenges
The funny thing about growth is that it can be a double edged sword. As a founder it is your job to drive and create growth for your company. After all the hard work, eventual growth in your company is the result of over coming each early obstacle. But at the very same time growth can then immediately create new obstacles.
This happens because growth brings with it additional challenges that your company may not have experienced before. On one side you should be celebrating that recent growth has led demand to increase beyond your wildest dreams. At the very same moment though your company is reaching the maximum capacity of your existing processes and current team capabilities.
This is one of the reasons entrepreneurship is a constant uphill battle. As an entrepreneur it is your job to keep problem solving new challenges over and over. Knowing this is one of the reasons we place such a high value on High Fluid Intelligence at the Founder Institute when evaluating new potential founders applying to the program. Can you quickly learn a rule set and apply it to solve a novel problem? With a constantly changing playing field, founders must recognize patterns and quickly adapt to survive.
The best founders have high fluid intelligence. They use it to quickly recognize the new obstacles growth has challenged them with, analyze, adapt and solve them. Ensuring that as the founder you are problem solving over and over is the path to increased growth and success for your business.
In order to prevent this repetitive cycle from becoming too daunting though it is important that throughout this process you make sure to remember to take a a brief moment to celebrate the wins as they come, or they may just quickly pass you by.