CEO-centric research project that set out to answer the following the following question: “How might Connect / Catalyst Inc/ Northern Ireland provide new help to enable more NI startups to get to $10M–100M revenue?”

1. The Way to Scale
C R E A T I N G A N E N V I R O N M E N T W H E R E S T A R T U P S C A N S C A L E U P

2. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
Why scaling, why now?
Northern Ireland is a great place to become an
entrepreneur. There is lots of support available
to early stage companies with programmes But
what happens when these teams do achieve
product market fit?

3. We have a thriving startup
culture but it’s time to talk
about building capability to...
SCALE UP
— T H E W A Y T O S C A L E

4. Reid Hoffman
Partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners
People naturally focus on two (kinds of
scale): growing your revenues and growing
your customer base… if you don’t get those
right, then nothing else matters. But very
few businesses can succeed on those fronts
without also scaling. An organization’s size
and its ability to execute determine whether
it can capture customers and revenue.
— T H E W A Y T O S C A L E

5. More companies not less will go big
— T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
Globalization is a form of network, combining
networks of transport, commerce, payment and
information that flows around the world. In this
environment, startups have to move much faster,
because competition can now come from anywhere
and beat you to scale.
Software is a natural enabler of scale as the marginal
costs of selling into huge markets are virtually zero. AI
will supercharge this capability to scale – making
‘blitzscaling’ more pervasive with more companies
(not less), aiming to go big and do so at pace.
We set out on a journey to explore the potential for
companies in Northern Ireland to achieve scale.

6. We focused on companies that have achieved product
market fit and are therefore ready to scale. We used
Paul Graham’s ‘startup curve’ as our reference:
— T H E W A Y T O S C A L E

7. How might we (Connect / Catalyst Inc /
Northern Ireland) provide new help to
enable more startups in Northern Ireland to
get to £10M — £100M in annual revenue?
— T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
We started by asking a simple question

8. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
We interviewed a number of CEOs in our
network as well as a group of veterans that
have scaled and exited businesses. We
learned about the challenges facing startup
founders as well as what worked for leaders
that got to scale. Then we ran a series of
workshops to define common themes and
design potential solutions that address our
stated problem.
The Process
DEFINITIONPLANNING RESEARCH IDEATION
LIVE CEOs
EXITED CEOs
NEXT STEPS

9. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
What we learned from founders
Tap into the NI diaspora - harvest
them and get them on board.
Ability to hire good salespeople is
missing - lack of sales talent in NI.
Focus on sales and really looking at
how we develop really good sales
capability than the pure technical
stuff. We’re pretty well served on the
technical side.
Give them exposure, increase their ambition
and show them what’s possible. Lessons
learned from CEOs that have been through it,
so these CEOs can ask ‘how did you go about
doing that?’.
Give entrepreneurs exposure and
inspiration to get them investor ready.
Great people leave well paid jobs because
they’re inspired to throw their shoulder
into the story. That’s what we all sign up
for. The mission.
We should recycle CEOs who’ve been there
and done that – those who have the ambition
to go back and do it again, but bigger this time.

10. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
We turned what we heard into a set of themes
1 People Power
Great companies need great teams.
How might we hire and grow the best?
4 Leading the Way
How can I develop my leadership team as
well as my own leadership capability?
2 A Foot Up to Funding
How might we maximise our value for
maximum investment and how can I get ready?
5 Sales, the No.1 Priority
The way to scale is surely through sales. Does
anyone know how to do that around here?
3 Laser Focus
How to know where to focus? With so much to
do where should my attention be?
6 Trust Me, I’m a Founder!
How can we surround ourselves with
experts who can help us to accelerate?

11. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
And then we looked at how others are
dealing with scale...

12. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
Carol S. Dweck
Author, Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success
The passion for stretching yourself and
sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s
not going well, is the hallmark of the growth
mindset. This is the mindset that allows
people to thrive during some of the most
challenging times in their lives.”
How do we get to scale when not everyone
possesses a ‘growth mindset’?
We asked a second group of entrepreneurs - a cohort of people
that have achieved global scale and exited at least once.
We learned that that in Northern Ireland
context, CEOs of startup companies aren’t
thinking about scale – as they’re preoccupied
with more pressing, immediate concerns.
Considerations such as access to talent, their
next funding round and product development.
So does our community of entrepreneurs in
Northern Ireland want to achieve scale?
Do we really have the potential?

13. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
Our findings
People Power
Rewiring the CEO mindset to develop
ambition, vision building, emotional
intelligence and leadership capability.
Sales Mastery Training
Training for CEOs to understanding the
market drivers in their particular
category and close deals.
Silicon Valley VC Sabbatical
Two week sabbatical with Fortune 500
company. To focus on VC and sales skills
transfer.
Scaling Accelerator Programme
Partner with best-in-class industry experts
and Business Schools to create a one year
programme for CEO's to focus on aspects
of their business that need re-worked.
Trusted Advisors
Impartial advisors to lend a trusted ear and
give a macro perspective on the company,
strategy & board.
Vision & Values Workshop
Defining the core vision & values of the
company to help CEOs create
magnetism to attract the right talent.
The Process surfaced a number of ideas...

14. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
The entrepreneur’s journey
We noticed that all of the ideas could be neatly rearranged
into a sequence. And if we put the entrepreneur at the heart
of this model, we can structure ideas as steps on a journey to
realising her company’s potential for achieving scale.
VISION & VALUES
WORKSHOP
TRUSTED ADVISORS
SALES MASTERY
TRAINING
SILICON VALLEY VC
SABBATICAL
CEO DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME
SCALING ACCELERATOR
PROGRAMME

15. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
What would you tell your younger self?
Then we met with our exited CEOs. We discussed the various
ideas we developed together, pushing and pulling to try and
define what is needed really. We asked them:
How might we (Connect / Catalyst Inc /
Northern Ireland) provide new help to
enable more startups in Northern Ireland to
get to £10M — £100M in annual revenue?

16. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
Bringing it all together
The contents of the discussion were over-layed on
our original map and following a lively debate, we
landed on a very distinct set of priorities. Three
phases of learning and support that might provide a
powerful means to helping more entrepreneurs in
Northern Ireland to achieve their true potential.

17. SALES STRATEGY
3
Sales models: Mentoring programme to
helps CEOs design the right sales model
Sales talent: Mentoring programme to
hire and manage sales leaders
What if we could connect companies with
global leaders to build sales expertise and
set them on their way to scale?
— T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
We call this... The Way to Scale
BUSINESS MODELLING
2
20 of Northern Ireland’s most successful
entrepreneurs, executives and investors
return home to help x2 per annum
Diaspora constructively destruct the
business models of 10 scaleups and
open their networks to support
What if we could harness our leader
diaspora to constructively destruct and
create better business models?
CEO TRANSFORMATION
1
10 CEOs of NI scaleups per year enrol in
an elite CEO development programme in
Boston or California
CEOs gain a cohort of peers for life
What if we could fundamentally change
the mindset of CEOs so they believed that
scale was possible?

18. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
CEO Transformation
What if we could fundamentally change the mindset of CEOs
so they believed that scale was possible?
Annual competition for 10 fully funded places on an
elite CEO development programme at US institution
(Babson, MassChallenge, Stanford, etc).
Programme designed to fit with the time and
demands on a CEO of earlier stage scaleup
(Example criteria: £1m in funding or £1m in sales).
Successful CEOs will join a core cohort of other NI
and US CEOs to support for life.
1
Enhancing leadership & strategic capability.
Building ambition and confidence of CEOs to lead
scalable, innovative companies capable of growing
exports and jobs. Supporting a cohort of scaleups
for life, to develop a culture of thinking big in NI.

19. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
Business Modelling
What if we could harness our leader diaspora to constructively
destruct and create better business models?
Catalyst Inc annually recruit 20 of Northern Ireland’s
most successful Diaspora (entrepreneurs, executives,
investors) into team of elite “Diaspora Luminaries”.
Diaspora commit to two two-day visits per annum:
— One home fixture in NI
— One away fixture (New York, London, etc)
Core activity of each visit is workshops to constructively
destruct business models of NI companies looking to
scale (Springboard final panel structure).
2
In advance, Diaspora luminary commits to help share
knowledge and open their networks for NI scaleups. If
they have capacity, they may get involved as non-exec
directors or invest.
Public events organised for Diaspora can share their
stories, etc.
Diaspora expenses are paid (economy class airfares).

20. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
Sales Strategy
What if we could connect companies with global leaders to build sales
expertise and set them on their way to scale?
Mentorship from expanded pool of CEOs and sales
leaders to perform a deeper dive into designing the
optimal, bespoke sales model and go-to-market)
strategy for NI scaleup.
Helping scaleups with the most challenging job of a CEO
– developing a sales organisation and recruiting a sales
leader that can succeed.
3
Providing coaching by experienced CEOs on
techniques for sourcing, interviewing and hiring sales
people located outside of Northern Ireland.
Providing ongoing support to nurture and develop
sales leader and sales organisation.

21. — T H E W A Y T O S C A L E
We’d like to know
what you think...