The document provides guidance on sustaining successful execution throughout a startup's growth journey. It emphasizes the importance of focusing on execution today to support growth tomorrow. Specifically, it recommends shifting team focus to accommodate growth while maintaining quality for existing customers. It also stresses the need to anticipate rising expenses that come with growth and have infrastructure and disaster recovery plans in place. Additionally, it advises accelerating people with the right tools and processes, and directly supporting teams through growth.

1. Execution
STEPSTO SUSTAINED
PLAN FOR SUCCESS AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR STARTUP JOURNEY
4
The Business of
Expanded from an article by
VP Marketing @ Remind Meenal Balar
(former Dir Intl Growth, Facebook)
GROWTH
FROM SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESS LEADERS
3 Adoption
How do you earn customer bookmarks?
• Create value in their lives – creating aha moments for them
2 Activation
How do you get those people to start using your product?
• More usability testing
• User friction inside & outside your product to speed up activation
4 Virality
How do you turn customer likes into shares?
• Targeted push strategies
• Easy social sharing
• Product quality
Aquisition
How do you get people’s attention?
• Product discovery
• Usability testing
1
O N T H E W A Y T O M O R E P R O F I T A B L E P R O D U C T S
OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL
PROCESS
Focal Points
THAT WILL HAVE MOST POSITIVE
IMPACT ON PRODUCT DELIVERY
Challenges
Increasing product
complexity / more
software (IoT)
Disconnected
processes
Understaffing
Collaboration
challenges
Information
challenges
Incorporate voice of
customer up front
Encourage
cross-departmental
collaboration
Release products
more effectively to
supply chain
Outsource /
co-develop with 3rd
party partners
24%
56%
46%
23%
21%
23%
19%
17%
17%
3 THINGS YOU NEED TO DO
IMPACTFUL PRODUCT LEADERSHIP
From Aberdeen Group survey in Analyst Insight report, February 2014
S U C C E S S I S W O N D E R F U L , B U T S C A L I N G I S H A R D
Shift Team
Focus
Anticipate
Expenses
Prepare For
Amplification
Expanded from an article by serial entrepreneur and engineer Jessica McKellar
Manage Execution
& Coordination
Across Teams
Accelerate People
with Right Tools
and Processes
Directly Support
Your People
DO IT NOW, NOT LATER
FOCUS ON EXECUTING WELL TODAY FOR TOMORROW’S GROWTH
More customers means products being
pushed, more issues, and more customer
support needs.
Growth means more infrastructure needs
– costs more to keep the lights on – and
you may not be profitable yet.
Customer feedback, network effect –
growth amplifies the good. But, scaling
also means the bad makes a big impact.
Everything moves slower now. But,
don’t let growth come at cost of
existing customers. Keep team
happy and productive. Hire well.
Automate what you can, but know
what needs human touch.
Be careful – your costs cannot scale
faster than your revenue. Make
smart infrastructure investments
that grow with you. Build the right
systems and don’t be short-sighted.
You are not living in obscurity
anymore. Think about potential
disasters and have a plan.
Know what to do when things hit
the fan and be prepared to recover.
To read more, see the article
by Alex Turnbull, CEO of Groove
WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS STARTUP WISDOM FROM SOME OF THE BEST
AND BRIGHTEST. EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP, GOOD PROCESSES, & RIGHT
SYSTEMS WILL GET YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.
SMALL
SIMPLE
CHEAP
LESLIE’S LAW:
PRODUCT CONTROL
83%
INEFFICIENT PROCESSES
45%
PRODUCT QUALITY
42%
When small meets large, small
(almost) always wins IF you solve an
important problem with a simple,
low-friction product in market
underserved by incumbents. Avoid
temptation to over-feature and
focus on executing well.
To read more, see the article by Mark Leslie,
Chairman & CEO of Veritas
From TechValidate survey of Arena Solutions
small business customers, 2015, when asked
what issues prompted investment in Arena.
SMALL BUSINESSES:
Why invest in a product lifecycle management
solution now?
COLLABORATION NEEDS
38%
REDUCE TTM
21%
REDUCE COSTS
20%