Growth Creates Problems—And That's a Good Thing

Growth is usually measured in numbers.

Revenue goes up. The team gets bigger. Customers increase. New opportunities appear.

Those are the obvious signs of growth.

What gets discussed less are the problems that come with it. And there are always problems.

As a company grows, the problems simply change.

A business that once had to figure out how to win its next customer eventually has to figure out how to serve ten more without sacrificing quality.

The owner who once made every decision personally has to learn how to delegate.

A small team that could communicate by walking across the office suddenly needs better systems.

Hiring becomes more complicated. Infrastructure becomes more important. Communication requires more intention. Quality control becomes something that has to be built into the process rather than assumed.

None of that means something is wrong. It means something is working.

I've started to think about problems differently as FourShare has grown.

The goal isn't to build a business without problems. That's impossible.

The goal is to make sure we're solving bigger and better problems.

If we're dealing with the exact same challenges we faced years ago, then we probably haven't evolved enough.

Growth should force you to reconsider how you operate.

It should challenge your systems. It should expose weaknesses. It should make you rethink where your time is best spent.

That can be uncomfortable, but it's also valuable. Every new stage of a business demands something different from its leadership.

What worked when the company was smaller may not work at the next level. The processes that got you here may eventually become the things holding you back.

That's why I don't see growing pains as something to avoid. I see them as signals.They tell you where the business needs to mature.

As FourShare continues to grow, I expect new problems.

In fact, I hope we have them.

Because if we're solving different problems next year than we're solving today, that's a pretty good indication that we're moving forward.

“A growing company shouldn't have the same problems it had five years ago. The problems should get bigger because the business has.”

Pull quote 

“A growing company shouldn't have the same problems it had five years ago. The problems should get bigger because the business has.”