Basic business sense still applies in today’s world. Just because we have fancy things like AI and new investment models, we’re still scaling our businesses just like the early entrepreneurs did. The problem is that so many startups today think the game has changed entirely, but the reality is that business is still business. And if you don’t have some of those basics down, you’re going to suffer the consequences in the long run.
Scaling Your Team
You just got a big capital injection…Congrats! However, just because you have the funds to scale up doesn’t always mean you should. Don’t scale your team until you know how to properly deploy it. Do you have a go to market strategy (GTM) and a plan for exactly how you will deploy your sales team? Do you have the foundational process and plan mapped out? Just bringing in bodies is not going to do you any favors, and will actually end up wasting a lot of your investment in the process. Sadly, we see too many companies burning capital on oversized, underutilized teams, making their GTM strategy highly inefficient.
You’re Not an Overnight Success
The same blocking and tackling of business applies in the world of VC funding, startups, and AI. You may have some fun bells and whistles to your endeavor, but you still have to hit the same milestones, just like all the other “overnight successes” out there. You have to scale to hit $1M, then $5M, then $10M, up to $100M, and beyond. The way you build a $100M business is by first building a $1M business. And then $5M, and then $10M, and so on. Yes, there may be exceptions, but the vast majority of startups have to follow the growth patterns and growing pains associated with scaling their companies up from nothing to something. Don’t think you’ll be an overnight success, but instead, embrace the fact that there’s a journey we all take in business growth.
What You Can Guarantee
You can’t guarantee a return on investment and you can’t predict the future. However, there are a lot of things you CAN guarantee. Those things you can guarantee ultimately help you move closer to a return on investment. We’re talking about things like transparency, responsiveness, administrative processes, real-life interactions, and more. These aren’t always sexy things, but the consistent reps of putting in the work will move you closer to your goal and closer to your investors’ intended returns. So many of the same business practices of communication, timeliness, integrity, and consistency are vital in today’s business world. These are timeless qualities that have been consistent throughout all of time.
In the flashy world of AI tech, you hear a lot of fluff. People like to use fun jargon to make them sound more important and offer up enticing dreams of success to investors and to the public. However, if you don’t have the basics of business in place, there’s no amount of shiny AI that will compensate. Get back to basics and you’ll see your ideas start to take shape into real, tangible growth.