ReportWire

Tag: scale

  • There Are Lots of Ways to Raise Capital. Here’s How 3 Inc. 5000 Founders Did It

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    Looking to scale your business? You’re going to need money to do it—and unless you’re planning on bootstrapping indefinitely, that’ll probably involve some outside capital.

    But with lots of different ways to secure third-party investment, from venture capital and private equity to grant programs and the public markets, how’s an entrepreneur to choose?

    Attendees at this week’s Inc. 5000 conference in Phoenix got a first-hand look at some of the different paths that high-growth business leaders have followed to success during a panel on Thursday featuring creative growth capital strategies. On stage were three Inc. 5000 founders: Tony Lamb of the shaved ice truck business Kona Ice (No. 1935 in 2014), Vanessa Rissetto of the telehealth nutrition startup Culina Health (No. 564 this year) and Kim Vaccarella of the beach bag brand Bogg Bag (No. 434 in 2020).

    All three founders achieved impressive scale with their startups, but financed them in very distinct ways. Vaccarella started Bogg Bag as a side hustle, using money from her kids’ college savings plan and husbands’ pension to kick things off before eventually inking a deal for a minority investment. Rissetto, meanwhile, built up Culina with referrals from doctor friends, then went down the venture capital path, closing a $7.9 million Series A late last year. And Lamb bootstrapped Kona Ice for a while before private equity eventually bought out his co-founder’s shares, leaving him with a 51 percent stake; following a second PE deal, he now owns around one-third of the company.

    People have very mixed feelings about PE funds, he told the Inc. 5000 audience, but “no one brings value like private equity brings value.”

    Of course, not every financing opportunity bears fruit. Lamb said he fielded meetings with 15 different prospective investors before landing on the right one, while Rissetto turned down an early offer from a VC fund that said it would back Culina if it had $10 million EBITDA—to which Rissetto responded, “If I was $10 million EBITDA, I would not need you.”

    Vaccarella also turned down a major deal with a public company because it would’ve given them full control over Bogg—something she was unwilling to sign over.

    “I was not ready to give up my baby yet,” she says of the proposal, which would’ve been worth over $100 million had she taken it. She went into “a little bit of a depression” after rejecting the offer, she says, in part because she’d told her nieces and nephews that she would take them all to Disney when she thought the deal was going to happen.

    But “better things come along,” she adds. Still, she encourages her fellow entrepreneurs to listen to their guts when it comes to working with the people on their cap table.

    “They’re going to have a million ideas for you, because they’ve done it all a million times,” Vaccarella said. “The people that they were bringing in had so much more experience in bigger brands than Bogg Bag—but at the end of the day, what I do know is, I do know Bogg Bag. I know my customer. So I needed to forcefully, in the nicest way possible, come out and say, ‘No, this is the way I want to see it done. This is what we need to get back to.’”

    She added: “Sometimes you lose yourself when you take on all those partners, and you’re intimidated by them. So finding that balance has been important for me.”

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    Brian Contreras

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  • Nobel Prize in physics goes to trio of researchers for discoveries in quantum mechanics

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    The 2025 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to a trio of scientists – a Briton, a Frenchman and an American – for their ground-breaking discoveries in the field of quantum mechanics.John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis will share the prize “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit,” the Nobel Committee announced Tuesday at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.The committee praised the laureates for demonstrating that the “bizarre properties of the quantum world can be made concrete in a system big enough to be held in the hand.”Clarke, taking questions at a news conference, said he was “completely stunned” to learn he had won the award.“We had not realized in any way that this might be the basis of a Nobel Prize,” Clarke said of their research in the 1980s at the University of California, Berkeley.Quantum mechanics, which describes how matter and energy behaves at or below the scale of an atom, allows a particle to pass straight through a barrier, in a process called “tunnelling.”But when a larger number of particles are involved, these quantum mechanical effects usually become insignificant. What is true at the microscopic level was not thought to be true at the macroscopic level. For instance, while a single atom could pass through a barrier, a tennis ball – made up of a huge amount of particles – cannot.However, the trio of researchers conducted experiments to show that quantum tunnelling can also be observed on a macroscopic scale.In 1984 and 1985, the trio developed a superconducting electrical system that could pass from one physical state to another, as if a tennis ball could move straight through a barrier and not bounce back.Anthony Leggett, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2003, compared the laureates’ work on how quantum mechanics functions on a larger scale to the famous thought experiment of Erwin Schrödinger, another physics laureate.To show the paradoxical nature of quantum mechanics, Schrödinger imagined a cat in a sealed box with a device that releases poison when a radioactive source decays. Because there is no way to observe whether the cat is dead or alive, Schrödinger posited that the cat was both dead and alive simultaneously – just as, in quantum mechanics, a system can exist in multiple states at once until measured.Schrödinger’s thought experiment aimed to show the absurdity of this situation, because quantum mechanics doesn’t make sense on the scale of everyday objects, such as a cat.Leggett argued, however, that the experiments conducted by Clarke, Devoret and Martinis showed that there are phenomena on larger scales that behave just as quantum mechanics predicts.Clarke said their research had helped pave the way for technological advances, such as the creation of the cell phone.“There is no advanced technology used today that does not rely on quantum mechanics, including mobile phones, cameras… and fiber optic cables,” said the Nobel committee.Last year, the prize was awarded to Geoffrey Hinton – often called the “Godfather of AI” – and John Hopfield, for their fundamental discoveries in machine learning, which paved the way for how artificial intelligence is used today.In 2023, the prize went to a trio of European scientists who used lasers to understand the rapid movement of electrons, which were previously thought impossible to follow.The prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million).

    STOCKHOLM —

    The 2025 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to a trio of scientists – a Briton, a Frenchman and an American – for their ground-breaking discoveries in the field of quantum mechanics.

    John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis will share the prize “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit,” the Nobel Committee announced Tuesday at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.

    The committee praised the laureates for demonstrating that the “bizarre properties of the quantum world can be made concrete in a system big enough to be held in the hand.”

    Clarke, taking questions at a news conference, said he was “completely stunned” to learn he had won the award.

    “We had not realized in any way that this might be the basis of a Nobel Prize,” Clarke said of their research in the 1980s at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Quantum mechanics, which describes how matter and energy behaves at or below the scale of an atom, allows a particle to pass straight through a barrier, in a process called “tunnelling.”

    But when a larger number of particles are involved, these quantum mechanical effects usually become insignificant. What is true at the microscopic level was not thought to be true at the macroscopic level. For instance, while a single atom could pass through a barrier, a tennis ball – made up of a huge amount of particles – cannot.

    However, the trio of researchers conducted experiments to show that quantum tunnelling can also be observed on a macroscopic scale.

    In 1984 and 1985, the trio developed a superconducting electrical system that could pass from one physical state to another, as if a tennis ball could move straight through a barrier and not bounce back.

    Anthony Leggett, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2003, compared the laureates’ work on how quantum mechanics functions on a larger scale to the famous thought experiment of Erwin Schrödinger, another physics laureate.

    To show the paradoxical nature of quantum mechanics, Schrödinger imagined a cat in a sealed box with a device that releases poison when a radioactive source decays. Because there is no way to observe whether the cat is dead or alive, Schrödinger posited that the cat was both dead and alive simultaneously – just as, in quantum mechanics, a system can exist in multiple states at once until measured.

    Schrödinger’s thought experiment aimed to show the absurdity of this situation, because quantum mechanics doesn’t make sense on the scale of everyday objects, such as a cat.

    Leggett argued, however, that the experiments conducted by Clarke, Devoret and Martinis showed that there are phenomena on larger scales that behave just as quantum mechanics predicts.

    Clarke said their research had helped pave the way for technological advances, such as the creation of the cell phone.

    “There is no advanced technology used today that does not rely on quantum mechanics, including mobile phones, cameras… and fiber optic cables,” said the Nobel committee.

    Last year, the prize was awarded to Geoffrey Hinton – often called the “Godfather of AI” – and John Hopfield, for their fundamental discoveries in machine learning, which paved the way for how artificial intelligence is used today.

    In 2023, the prize went to a trio of European scientists who used lasers to understand the rapid movement of electrons, which were previously thought impossible to follow.

    The prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million).

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  • What I Learned After Selling My Company to Snapchat for $54 Million | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In 2014, Snapchat acquired our startup, Scan, for $54 million, back when QR codes were still relatively new.

    Most people hadn’t tried them, and phones didn’t support them natively. The technology was promising, but the experience wasn’t, so it sat behind a clunky UX. We removed that friction and made QR codes easier to create, scan and deploy, which led to quick adoption.

    The deal with Snapchat was seamless, not because of flashy decks or famous backers, but because they saw how we were focused on closing a real usage gap, how we moved fast and were aligned with their larger vision.

    For any founder hoping to build a lasting company or one day sell it, I’ve found that success boils down to a few core principles I’ve learned along the way.

    Related: What I Wish I Knew Before Selling My Company

    1. Build what people actually use

    Too many founders begin with presentations or investor outreach before proving their product. From day one, Scan was grounded in user need. We built it to let people easily scan and generate QR codes, nothing fancy, just functional and straightforward.

    Just like with any startup, we didn’t raise capital immediately. We did, however, start early, pay attention to all helpful comments, and make changes often. Shortly after, that strategy helped the app get more than 1 million downloads. By the end of 2012, Scan had more than 25 million apps installed. A couple of years later, we had more than 100 million copies of the product downloaded around the world.

    That user traction was more persuasive than any pitch deck could have ever been. It proved product-market fit, a signal investors and acquirers value above all else. When starting a business, ensure you have the end users in mind and iterate frequently, rather than investing energy in hypothetical demand. Remember that real usage always beats hypothetical value.

    From the start, my co-founders and I aligned on roles and equity. That early clarity, splitting equity equally and playing to our strengths, helped us stay focused and avoid internal friction, which kills many startups before they begin.

    2. Design with a buyer in mind

    By the time Snapchat reached out, Scan was already built for scale, fully localized, with creation tools that teams could use anywhere. The real alignment clicked when Snap wanted a scannable identity baked into a camera‑first experience.

    In Q1 of 2015, Snapcodes launched on top of Scan’s core stack. The integration worked seamlessly because we engineered for extensibility, tuned reliability to survive low-light and low-ink prints and planned use cases beyond our original app.

    Design for ecosystem fit from the start if you’re a founder hoping to get your business on an acquirer’s shortlist. Keep an eye on the metrics that are important to them, such as mistake rates, time-to-first-scan and activation. Next, look for integration abilities like compliance, dependability and APIs. The discussion swiftly moves from “What if?” to “How soon?” when strategy and culture are in sync.

    3. Know your numbers and what it’ll take to win the deal

    One detail that almost derailed the acquisition was the initial financial structure. Our seed investors had a liquidation preference that meant anything below $54 million wouldn’t deliver meaningful returns to founders or early backers.

    Snap’s first offer came in below that line. With guidance from our lead investor, we held firm. He reminded me: “You haven’t gotten a good deal until you’ve said no three times.” That mindset gave us leverage when it mattered most.

    We used speed as our lever and told Snap that if they met our number, we could start integration immediately. That clarity closed the gap, and we signed at the threshold we needed to reach.

    If you’re raising or preparing for an exit, know your cap table cold. Map the preference stack (seniority, multiples, and whether prefs are participating) plus option‑pool top‑ups and any SAFEs or notes. Define your walk‑away point. Keep in mind that leverage isn’t only about price; execution speed, a specialized team and defensible IP can all move the terms.

    Related: You Need to Make These 5 Moves Before Selling Your Business

    4. Every dollar must drive momentum

    After raising roughly $2 million in seed funding, we felt confident, but confidence can be a misleading indicator.

    Without a strict plan, we overhired, signed a high-end lease in downtown San Francisco, and delayed experimenting with monetization strategies. Cash was used too quickly, and we nearly ran out of runway within months.

    That near-crash taught me that funding isn’t in any way a safety net but a responsibility. Each dollar must contribute to measurable momentum. Hire deliberately, test revenue early and protect a six‑month cash buffer. Flashy growth comes and goes, but durable advantage comes from operational discipline with a focus on the work that actually moves the business. That kind of financial and strategic clarity is often a key signal that you’re ready to sell, when the business can operate independently, growth is consistent, and decisions are rooted in fundamentals rather than rapid changes.

    5. Build for freedom, not just an exit

    One thing I’d do differently is hold onto more gratitude. It’s easy to get caught up in momentum and miss the meaning, especially when building with friends.

    Selling the company gave us perspective and room to breathe. The real lesson wasn’t in the money, but in building with purpose, creating space where creative teams do their best work and shipping technology that supports human well-being.

    That’s the focus at my current company, at the intersection of AI, performance, and mental health. I’m applying those same lessons with more intention, clearer outcomes and steady, user-guided iteration.

    For founders, treat an acquisition as a checkpoint. Use it to recommit to the pain points worth solving, the people you want to scale with, and the impact you intend to leave. Execute with focus.

    In 2014, Snapchat acquired our startup, Scan, for $54 million, back when QR codes were still relatively new.

    Most people hadn’t tried them, and phones didn’t support them natively. The technology was promising, but the experience wasn’t, so it sat behind a clunky UX. We removed that friction and made QR codes easier to create, scan and deploy, which led to quick adoption.

    The deal with Snapchat was seamless, not because of flashy decks or famous backers, but because they saw how we were focused on closing a real usage gap, how we moved fast and were aligned with their larger vision.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Kirk Ouimet

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  • I Turned My Hobby Into a Global Startup for Writers — Here’s the Playbook | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Since childhood, I’ve been a bookworm. My all-time favorite books include a mix of non-fiction and finance. However, this didn’t stop me from transforming my biggest hobby into My Passion, the top-2 e-book platform globally.

    The platform already has over 1,000 books, and every two weeks we release another 2–3 bestsellers. For entrepreneurs wondering if their passion could become their next startup, here’s exactly how I did it — and the framework that can work for you too.

    Related: AI Won’t Wait for Your Strategy — Why Should Your Leadership?

    Define your ‘Why’

    86% of people who started a hobby-based business report higher job satisfaction. But here’s what they don’t tell you: satisfaction doesn’t equal success, and most hobby businesses never scale beyond side hustles.

    Don’t quit your job just because you read how Zuckerberg started Facebook as a hobby project for Harvard students, or how Boeing turned his love of aircraft into a billion-dollar company. Instead, consider WHY you truly desire to launch your startup.

    Here’s how I discovered mine.

    For me, reading was more than just entertainment. This is what shaped my worldview.

    Books showed me the world beyond survival — I read about Van Gogh, artists and creators who transcended their environment. This sparked the belief that my background doesn’t define me — a mantra I carry to this day.

    I didn’t just want to open a bookstore, launch an app or write a book for money. My goal was to empower writers globally. Ultimately, storytelling became the DNA of my startup, Holywater, which unlocks people’s potential by combining their imagination with AI capabilities, from books to streaming and AI-powered series.

    Now, writers worldwide share stories and gain recognition through My Passion. Moreover, books evolve into My Drama’s vertical series with a global reach. We are also developing the PYSHY (WRITE) contest with Vivat Publishing, which creates real earning opportunities for writers.

    We got 444 submissions, 3 were picked for publication and 1 was adapted for a top-performing vertical series.

    You can simply monetize your hobby, for example, by selling your books, paintings or clay crafts. Or you can turn it into a global startup. Your why and scale make all the difference.

    Connect your passion with a real-world solution

    Your passion must translate into value for others, not just personal satisfaction. The reason 42% of startups fail is misreading market demand. Simply put, founders spent money and time launching a product that no one needed.

    Identify what other people’s problems or needs you can solve by turning your hobby into a startup. Consider how successful founders made this connection. Etsy transformed the love of handmade crafts into a global marketplace for unique goods. AeroPress turned one coffee enthusiast’s quest for the perfect brew into a portable solution for coffee lovers worldwide. These founders connected their passions with unmet market needs, creating products that solved real problems and resonated with millions.

    Through my reading journey, I realized a fundamental gap: people love stories, but they lack the tools and support to tell them well. Writer’s block, pacing issues and structural gaps limit creativity, and working on a book alone is exhausting. After all, professional storytellers have entire teams of editors, plot consultants and visual artists.

    Launching My Passion together with Anatolii Kasianov, we applied AI to democratize storytelling support, giving every writer access to plot development, visual elements, structure recommendations and pacing advice. Support that was previously only available to well-known authors is now available to all creators.

    Start with a small community

    Ask yourself: Is this hobby large enough to involve other people? Your passion requires a community to become a sustainable business.

    Many great businesses started as small communities that later scaled. For instance, Reddit began as a platform for niche interests and grew into a global discussion hub, and Duolingo was a small beta community of language learners testing early lessons. Nowadays, you can easily build a community on social media and get feedback there. It’s a great chance to get like-minded people together and test out your idea.

    The beauty of starting small is that it allows you to validate demand without massive investment. You can quickly discover whether others share your passion and face similar challenges.

    Related: How a Side Hustle Led to a $1 Million+ Passive Income Stream

    Don’t let your passion turn into a nightmare

    Understand the stakes and pressure that come with monetising your hobby. When your livelihood depends on what once brought you pure joy, the dynamic changes completely. Deadlines replace spontaneity. Market demands can override creative instincts. Financial pressure can drain the original magic. The result: burnout, which affects more than half of founders.

    What keeps me going? Again, books. Not for market research, but for myself. Besides, I have other passions. For example, I meditate every day and share insights on LinkedIn. It is extremely important for startup founders not to get stuck only in work, especially if their hobby and startup are now combined.

    The line between hobby and business disappears when your work helps others experience the same transformation that once changed you. When writers tell us our platform helped them overcome creative blocks they’d struggled with for years, I know we’ve moved beyond monetizing a hobby — we’re scaling transformation.

    Your greatest obsession might just be your greatest business opportunity, but only if you can preserve what made you fall in love with it in the first place.

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    Bogdan Nesvit

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  • Cracks are forming in Meta’s partnership with Scale AI | TechCrunch

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    It’s only been since June that Meta invested $14.3 billion in the data vendor Scale AI, bringing on CEO Alexandr Wang and several of the startup’s top executives to run Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). However, the relationship between the two companies is already showing signs of fraying.

    At least one of the executives Wang brought over to help run MSL — Scale AI’s former Senior Vice President of GenAI Product and Operations, Ruben Mayer — has departed Meta after just two months with the company, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. 

    Mayer spent roughly five years with Scale AI across two stints. In his short time at Meta, Mayer oversaw AI data operations teams and reported to Wang, but wasn’t tapped to join the company’s TBD labs — the core unit tasked with building AI superintelligence, where top AI researchers from OpenAI have landed. 

    Mayer did not respond to two separate requests for comment from TechCrunch. 

    Further, TBD Labs is working with third-party data vendors other than Scale AI to train its upcoming AI models, according to five people familiar with the matter. Those third-party vendors include Mercor and Surge, two of Scale AI’s largest competitors, the people said. 

    While AI labs commonly work with several data vendors – Meta has been working with Mercor and Surge since before TBD Labs was spun up –  it’s rare for an AI lab to invest so heavily in one data vendor. That makes this situation especially notable: even with Meta’s multi-billion-dollar investment, several sources said that researchers in TBD Labs see Scale AI’s data as low quality and have expressed a preference to work with Surge and Mercor.

    Scale AI initially built its business on a crowdsourcing model that used a large, low-cost workforce to handle simple data annotation tasks. But as AI models have grown more sophisticated, they now require highly-skilled domain experts—such as doctors, lawyers, and scientists—to generate and refine the high-quality data needed to improve their performance.

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    Although Scale AI has moved to attract these subject matter experts with its Outlier platform, competitors like Surge and Mercor have been growing quickly because their business models were built on a foundation of high-paid talent from the outset.

    A Meta spokesperson disputed the fact that there are quality issues with Scale AI’s product. Surge and Mercor declined to comment. Asked about Meta’s deepening reliance on competing data providers, a Scale AI spokesperson directed TechCrunch to its initial announcement of Meta’s investment in the startup, which cites an expansion of the companies’ commercial relationship. 

    Meta’s deals with third-party data vendors likely mean the company is not putting all its eggs in Scale AI, even after investing billions in the startup. The same can’t be said for Scale AI, however. Shortly after Meta announced its massive investment with Scale AI, OpenAI and Google said they would stop working with the data provider.

    Shortly after losing those customers, Scale AI laid off 200 employees in its data labeling business in July, with the company’s new CEO, Jason Droege, blaming the changes in part on “shifts in market demand.” Droege said Scale AI would staff up in other parts of the business, including government sales — the company just landed a $99 million contract with the U.S. Army.

    Some speculated initially that Meta’s investment in Scale AI was really to lure Wang, a founder who has operated in the AI space since Scale AI was founded in 2016 and who appears to be helping Meta to attract top AI talent. 

    Aside from Wang, there’s an open question around how valuable Scale is to Meta. 

    One current MSL employee says that several of the Scale executives brought over to Meta are not working on the core TBD Labs team, as with Mayer. Further, Meta isn’t exclusively relying on Scale AI for data labeling work.

    Meanwhile, Meta’s AI unit has become increasingly chaotic since bringing on Wang and a wave of top researchers, according to two former employees and one current MSL employee. New talent from OpenAI and Scale AI have expressed frustration with navigating the bureaucracy of a big company, while Meta’s previous GenAI team has seen its scope limited, they said.

    The tensions indicate that Meta’s largest AI investment to date may be off to a rocky start, despite that it was supposed to address the company’s AI development challenges. After the lackluster launch of Llama 4 in April, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg grew frustrated with the company’s AI team, one current and one former employee told TechCrunch. 

    In an effort to turn things around and catch up with OpenAI and Google, Zuckerberg rushed to strike deals and launched an aggressive campaign to recruit top AI talent.

    Beyond Wang, Zuckerberg has managed to pull in top AI researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. Meta has also acquired AI voice startups including Play AI and WaveForms AI, and announced a partnership with the AI image generation startup, Midjourney.

    To power its AI ambitions, Meta recently announced several massive data center buildouts across the U.S. One of the largest is a $50 billion data center in Louisiana called Hyperion, named after a titan in Greek mythology that fathered the God of Sun.

    Wang, who’s not an AI researcher by background, was viewed as a somewhat unconventional choice to lead an AI lab. Zuckerberg reportedly held talks to bring in more traditional candidates to lead the effort, such as OpenAI’s chief research officer, Mark Chen, and tried to acquire the startups of Ilya Sutskever and Mira Murati. All of them declined.

    Some of the new AI researchers recently brought in from OpenAI have already left Meta, Wired previously reported. Meanwhile, many longtime members of Meta’s GenAI unit have departed in light of the changes. 

    MSL AI researcher Rishabh Agarwal is among the latest, posting on X this week that he’d be leaving the company.

    “The pitch from Mark and @alexandr_wang to build in the Superintelligence team was incredibly compelling,” said Agarwal. “But I ultimately choose to follow Mark’s own advice: ‘In a world that’s changing so fast, the biggest risk you can take is not taking any risk’.”

    Asked afterward about his time at Meta and what drove his decision to leave, Agarwal declined to comment.

    Director of product management for generative AI, Chaya Nayak, and research engineer, Rohan Varma, have also announced their departure from Meta in recent weeks. The question now is whether Meta can stabilize its AI operations and retain the talent it needs for its future success.

    MSL has already started working on its next generation AI model. According to reports from Business Insider, it’s aiming to launch it by the end of this year.

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    Maxwell Zeff, Marina Temkin

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  • Scaling Without Systems? You’re Setting Your Business Up to Fail | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Most companies chase wins: a big client, a viral moment or a record quarter. When those wins happen, they celebrate. In my experience, however, the most sustainable businesses aren’t the ones that cheer the loudest after a win. They’re the ones that quietly get back to work, focused on building systems that make those wins repeatable.

    At Asset Living, we often talk about how scale is never accidental. Instead, it’s the byproduct of repeatable, resilient systems that evolve over time. More specifically, you build a lasting business by creating processes that get smarter, sharper and more reliable with every iteration.

    Start building infrastructure around wins

    Success, especially early on, can be misleading. One great hire doesn’t mean your recruiting process works. Similarly, one big acquisition doesn’t mean your integration playbook is ready.

    Short-term momentum can be enticing; a winning streak feels good, but then cracks begin to show. Because the underlying process in place wasn’t designed to last — in other words, it wasn’t repeatable.

    When I look at a win, the first question I ask isn’t, “How do we do that again?” It’s, “Can we build a system around this?”

    Related: 10 Critical Pieces to Gain Momentum in Business (and Life)

    What LLMs get right about improvement

    Large language models, like ChatGPT and Gemini, don’t rely on streaks. They get better through relentless feedback, learning from millions of interactions to become sharper with every cycle. The improvement is systemic. Rather than producing one good output, the system attempts to upgrade the model that produces all outputs. This is the mindset more businesses need.

    Wins are great, but the real value lies in the system that created them. Are you analyzing what worked? Are you refining the process? Are you creating feedback loops to feed the next version?

    I try to approach my own internal processes at work the same way: as living systems. From onboarding and acquisitions to reporting and operational handoffs, I don’t assume something works just because it worked once. I try to measure, adjust and re-architect as needed.

    Not every win is worth building around

    One of the toughest parts of leadership is resisting the urge to scale a win that isn’t actually sustainable. We’ve had moments where a strategy generated short-term success, but it wouldn’t hold up long-term. Sometimes it was overly dependent on one person or circumstance. Other times it didn’t align with our long-term operating strategy. As tempting as it was to double down, we walked away.

    Sustainable systems require discipline. You have to evaluate not just what worked, but why it worked, who it worked for and whether it can be repeated without you in the room.

    Related: Here’s How Scaling a Business Really Works (It’s Not What You Think)

    Behind the scenes: What strong systems look like

    The most effective organizations rely on playbooks that evolve over time, covering everything from acquisitions to internal promotions. While the specifics vary, the underlying structure tends to hold: clear milestones, cross-functional accountability and post-mortem reviews to capture lessons learned.

    That kind of structure creates the conditions for speed and consistency. It prevents teams from reinventing the wheel and reduces the drag that comes with scale. The same approach applies to how leaders are developed, how performance is evaluated and how information flows across large groups. When something works, it’s not left to chance — it’s documented, tested and improved.

    How to build a system

    1. Start with the outcome, then reverse-engineer the process. After a win, resist the urge to celebrate and move on. Instead, deconstruct what happened. Ask yourself: What specific actions led to the result? Who executed it? Was it replicable, or was it situational? This analysis becomes the blueprint for a future-ready process.
    2. Stress-test before scaling. Not everything that works once should be rolled out company-wide. Try the strategy under different scenarios, with different teams and at different altitudes. See if the outcome holds. If it breaks down quickly, the system needs work before it’s scaled.
    3. Create feedback loops. Great systems evolve by design. Build in opportunities for real-time feedback from the people closest to the process. Collect data, learn from missteps and adjust accordingly — just like a language model tuning its next version.
    4. Document it. Share it. Refine it. A process used by only one team or individual isn’t helpful. Write it down, make it easily accessible and let others pressure-test it. Then refine it through usage. The more people who can use and improve it, the stronger it becomes.
    5. Play the long game. If your strategy only works this quarter, it isn’t a strategy. The best systems are built for durability, not immediacy. Invest time and energy into infrastructure that compounds in value and reduces future friction.
    6. Make it teachable. If a process can’t be explained clearly to someone new and executed well without micromanagement, it hasn’t yet matured. The more teachable your systems are, the faster your team can grow.
    7. Build in redundancy. Systems need backups. If your results hinge on a single person or tool, you’re one variable away from failure. Build roles and technologies that overlap slightly, so if one part fails, the whole doesn’t collapse.
    8. Audit regularly. Even the best systems expire. Commit to regular reviews to reevaluate efficiency and relevance. Invite internal and external perspectives to avoid blind spots and surface better solutions.

    Related: How to Think About the Systems in Your Business

    Why systems win in the long run

    The most impressive companies aren’t the ones with the flashiest headlines. They’re the ones with the most consistent output. That consistency is the result of systems — optimized daily, tested constantly and designed to scale.

    If you want to stop relying on luck, you need to start investing in infrastructure. Look beyond the highlight reel of your company. Study the engine that produced it because that’s where the real competitive advantage lives. Build the system; the wins will follow.

    Most companies chase wins: a big client, a viral moment or a record quarter. When those wins happen, they celebrate. In my experience, however, the most sustainable businesses aren’t the ones that cheer the loudest after a win. They’re the ones that quietly get back to work, focused on building systems that make those wins repeatable.

    At Asset Living, we often talk about how scale is never accidental. Instead, it’s the byproduct of repeatable, resilient systems that evolve over time. More specifically, you build a lasting business by creating processes that get smarter, sharper and more reliable with every iteration.

    Start building infrastructure around wins

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    Ryan McGrath

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  • 3 Non-Financial Factors That Could Impact Your Business’ Value | Entrepreneur

    3 Non-Financial Factors That Could Impact Your Business’ Value | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Determining a business’ value is not all about adding up revenue and subtracting expenses. While an important piece, these hard numbers are only half the equation for computing what a company is worth. To come up with the true value, we also look at factors like the level of owner involvement, company goals and growth opportunities. When we use the complete equation, we get a comprehensive picture of a business and can better understand the story of its past, present and future.

    Calculations may vary depending on the company, but in a healthy one, there is about a 50/50 split between the quantitative (financial) and qualitative (non-financial) sides of performance. If the business isn’t profitable, it’s more important to focus on the quantitative side and fix the numbers first. Many owners don’t want to hear that, but if they’re not hitting their numbers, it may mean the business is not working. They must fix the quantitative issues before moving to the qualitative side.

    Related: What Is a Balance Sheet and Why Does Your Business Need One?

    For healthy companies that want to maximize their value, the qualitative indicators can be bundled into three main categories.

    Evaluating quality

    1. The owner’s goals

    We’ve found significant research showing that if an owner has defined goals and plans for the future that are in line with market expectations for their company’s value, they’re going to have a much stronger exit. What is the owner’s defined goal for exiting the business — to get the most money, to take care of their employees and to ensure a legacy? You must then get to the “why” behind the goals and devise a plan of action. It almost doesn’t matter what the answers to the questions are; having achievable goals and a strategy for reaching them can increase the company’s value because it keeps the owner focused on improving the other areas of the business.

    2. The owner’s role

    The extent of the owner’s involvement is a critical indicator, but perhaps not for the reason you think. The more involved the owner is in day-to-day operations, the more central they are to the business, the less the business will be worth down the road. If the owner is the linchpin that holds everything together, what will happen to the company when they leave? Evaluating operations is more about the system and the structure of the team. Look at the organizational chart and who’s on it – are they good employees or bad employees? Examine the company’s processes and procedures and how new team members are trained and onboarded. The owner sets the vision, but it’s the team that increases company value by carrying out the vision.

    3. Growth opportunities

    Nobody wants to buy a business and keep it exactly as it is. They want to see potential for growth in the future, especially the potential for return on their investment as a buyer. Whether it’s a simple price increase or new locations, whoever buys the business is going to ask about growth opportunities. Indicators like product or service diversification in both the company and the industry it’s in give a good sense of whether the company is moving forward or standing still (and at risk of going backward). The more potential you can show, the more upside there will be for the next owner — adding up to greater value.

    Related: 8 Factors That Determine the Financial Health of a Business

    Cycle of success

    When the qualitative side of the equation is working, it all ties together. The owner knows the goals, which are aligned with where the company is going, and is leading the organization but working themselves out of the day-to-day operations; the business grows and creates more growth opportunities for the next owner. Paired with profitable numbers, it’s a cycle that builds a high-quality business.

    For the best owners, it takes a minimum of three to five years to get that cycle working for you and have reliable indicators of your value. Making it part of a 10-year strategy is even better.

    At Exit Factor, we have 62 different qualitative indicators that we use for determining company worth. We don’t use them all, or even close to that, for every business; it’s usually a matter of tweaking three to five of the 62 indicators. Figure out which of those 62 are essential for your company, and you’ll have a truly forward-looking strategy for profitable growth.

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    Jessica Fialkovich

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  • Before-after images show the scale of flooding across SoCal

    Before-after images show the scale of flooding across SoCal

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    Parts of Southern California have seen record rainfall in the past week after two atmospheric rivers pelted the region.

    As the clouds began to lift, new projections from a modeling company were providing a visual representation of the scale of the flooding.

    The projections, from Floodbase, show dramatic differences in accumulated water between late January and this week.

    Below is greater Los Angeles on Jan. 28 (left) and Feb. 6 (right). On Jan. 28, much of the water is dark blue, indicating permanent water.

    On Feb. 6, light blue floodwater surrounds waterways like the L.A. River and can be seen accumulating at the base of the Santa Monica and Verdugo mountains.

    Public satellites haven’t yet flown over the areas hit by the storm, and private satellites have only targeted a few areas, said Floodbase co-founder Bessie Schwarz.

    The Floodbase data is “simulating what the satellites would have seen,” she said.

    Floodbase uses an AI model trained on decades of satellite images, along with physical models from hydrologic, land surface and hydraulic data to predict what a satellite would see through the clouds.

    According to the images, the flooding was at its peak around Los Angeles on Feb. 6, whereas in Santa Barbara County, it was most significant the previous day.

    The image below uses the same methodology to show flooding in Santa Barbara County on Jan. 28 (left) and again on Feb. 5 (right).

    On Jan. 28, the data show modest flooding near Lompoc and some water in the Santa Ynez Mountains.

    By Feb. 6, dry riverbeds passing through Lompoc and Santa Maria were heavily flooded. The mountains above Santa Barbara were also flooded.

    The atmospheric river storms of the past week killed at least nine people and caused significant flooding and property damage along the California coast.

    After four days of rain, the skies were clearing Wednesday morning, leaving officials and property owners to sift through damage from nearly 500 landslides in Los Angeles County alone. Several locations got more than a foot of rain in a few days. One more dollop of rain was expected Wednesday night.

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    Terry Castleman

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  • Serial Entrepreneur Turned VC Reveals 4 Numbers You Need to Know to Scale Your Company | Entrepreneur

    Serial Entrepreneur Turned VC Reveals 4 Numbers You Need to Know to Scale Your Company | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As a serial successful entrepreneur turned angel investor and venture capitalist and one of the top female seed-stage investors in the world, I see dozens of pitches from entrepreneurs every single day – some through the form on our company site, others in email and loads of them via LinkedIn. Often, though, entrepreneurs reach out to me for advice rather than funding. As a former entrepreneur who once struggled to raise capital myself, I’m sympathetic to their pleas for help.

    One of those requests came from Emma. Her passion for her stationery business was undeniable. She’d spent years perfecting her craft and had a small but fiercely loyal following of customers who adored her exquisite, custom-made stationery. Now, she was ready to take her business to the next level and sought funding from venture capitalists to scale it up.

    Unfortunately, her fundraising efforts were a complete disaster, with investor after investor turning her down. Discouraged, she reached out to me for assistance.

    I had Emma send me her pitch deck, and the problem was immediately clear. She had a good vision but lacked an understanding of what investors look for. Her deck and pitch didn’t align with what investors needed to see, overlooking four key numbers – I call them BFHL – that are most fundamental to scale.

    B. Big market numbers

    The foundation of any scalable business is the market it serves. For investors, the bigger the better. To understand why, it’s essential to understand VC math.

    Assume my fund invests in 15 companies. Ten of them will fail, and I’ll lose my money. Three or four will do okay – I’ll get my money back or make a bit (1 to 5 times my money). That means the remaining one or two companies need to generate enough returns to make up for everything else (i.e., 100 times my money). Otherwise, my fund won’t do better than other far less risky things my investors could have put their money into.

    VCs look at every company through this homerun lens. What is the maximum revenue your business could generate if it captured 100% of the available market (Total Addressable Market, or TAM)? While no business can realistically achieve that, TAM provides a sense of the market’s overall size.

    For some industries, a market size in the billions of dollars might be considered large. In others, it could be in the trillions. Either way, a substantial market size offers massive potential for growth and a high ceiling for revenue and profitability.

    Related article: What Nobody Tells You About Taking VC Money

    F. Fast growth rate

    The market’s growth rate is also vital. VCs favor rapidly expanding markets because they enable a company to scale more quickly.

    Again, let’s turn to VC math to understand why rapid growth is crucial. Remember, VCs back the most risky companies (startups are unproven; most of them fail), so they and their investors expect extremely high returns. VC funds are also time-bound. They have eight to ten years to scout for startups, make their bets, help portfolio companies grow and achieve “exits” to get their returns. As a result, they want to know:

    1. How quickly can your business grow? How long until you can sell your company or take it public so they can sell their shares and get a return?
    2. How big can your company get? How much could it be worth (“valuation”) at the point they sell our shares?

    To deliver homerun-level returns, you need to grow from a startup to $100 to 500 million in revenue in the five to eight years your investor has left in its fund life. Why? We determine what a company is worth based on “multiples of revenue.” On the high end, SaaS companies can be valued at ten times or more of revenues. E-commerce firms come in around 2 to 3 times. Others can be as low as 1 to 2 times. So, to build a company that is a “unicorn” ($1 billion valuation), you need to quickly grow enough to generate $100 million to $500 million in revenue. Growing that big is hard to do, and do quickly, in a stagnant, crowded market.

    Related article: 4 Crucial Indicators To Know Before Seeking Venture Capital Funding

    H. High revenue numbers from each customer

    VCs want businesses that can generate high levels of revenue from each customer — from the initial sale and subsequent purchases, upsells, cross-sales, and retention (aka, keeping them for the long term). This is called the Lifetime Value (LTV) of a customer, and it’s a critical indicator of scalability.

    Investors prefer businesses with recurring revenue over those relying on one-time purchases because they provide predictable and continuous streams of income. Sell once; earn revenue indefinitely. Even better if that recurring revenue grows through upsells and new offerings. Better still if customers become advocates and bring in more new customers. It’s all about demonstrating to investors that your business is a revenue growth machine.

    Relevant article: 8 Things You Need to Know About Raising Venture Capital

    L. Low cost to get customers signed up

    VCs also prefer businesses that can find, sell to and secure customers efficiently. This includes your marketing and sales tactics (and budget) and the rate at which you convert prospects into paying customers. A low cost of acquiring a customer (CAC) means your business is efficient, which is vital for scalability.

    CAC is also a critical metric because it directly affects a company’s profitability. VCs favor businesses that can scale their customer acquisition efforts without proportionally increasing their costs. And a scalable customer acquisition strategy is crucial for achieving rapid growth.

    So, where did that leave Emma? After our talk, she could see how essential it was to have a business (and a deck) that aligns with investor preferences:

    • A massive market with high growth rates and an open landscape to disrupt and capture market share.
    • Subscription models and recurring revenue streams that increase over time, with customers that drive virality.
    • And a combination of high customer lifetime value and low customer acquisition cost ensures that the business can grow quickly and efficiently without eroding profits.

    The BFHL framework gave her what she needed to rethink her pitch and her approach to growing her business. Whether you’re an entrepreneur like Emma trying to attract investment or you’re simply seeking to scale your business, these four key numbers — market size and growth rate, lifetime value and cost of acquisition — should be your guiding lights. By focusing on these crucial metrics, you can set your business on a path to scalable success. Understanding these numbers and optimizing them is the key to unlocking the full potential of your venture.

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    Donna Harris

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  • Survive the Startup Graveyard — This CEO Reveals What It Takes | Entrepreneur

    Survive the Startup Graveyard — This CEO Reveals What It Takes | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    From startup to market maturity, there’s much to learn about scaling a business and your career. The harsh reality is that over 90% of startups don’t make it, and nearly 20% fail within the first year. So, if you happen to be among the minority of those who survived the gauntlet of challenges in the early years, first of all, congratulations. Second, you might be at a point where you need to scale in order to grow.

    As CEO of a leading SaaS company, I get a lot of questions about what it takes to grow a company while also learning to scale as a leader. I joined Pushpay in 2016 when the company was experiencing triple-digit growth year-over-year, with about 3,500 customers and less than 200 employees. Fast forward to today — the company is wildly profitable, has more than 15,000 customers, and has 500 proud employees around the globe. On paper, I certainly did advance from a senior manager to CEO in a matter of just six years. Yet the reality is that I had been preparing for a C-suite role for years. From owning my own consulting practice to leading a growing nonprofit organization, I have been investing in professional learning and leadership at every stop, paving the way to my role as CEO.

    Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about what it takes to reach the top — and spoiler alert, they’re all things you can do, too.

    Related: 10 Growth Strategies Every Business Owner Should Know

    1. Invest in mentorship and coaching

    A mentor recognizes your potential and encourages you to reach that potential. Reaching the top is difficult, but it’s even more difficult on your own. Find a mentor who will champion your interests and can act as a good sounding board as you continue to evolve in your career. A good mentor supports and guides you through the ups, downs and everything in between and gives you the nudge you need to accomplish things you didn’t think were possible. Establishing a relationship with a coach is also immensely valuable. A coach can help you develop skills in specialized areas, offer valuable feedback and challenge you to consider different perspectives. There have been times in my career when I was meeting with a mentor or coach weekly — or even daily — depending on the challenge at hand. From a corporate perspective, seek coaches and mentors who understand the challenges of your industry.

    I have received a lot of valuable advice and guidance over the years from these individuals who have influenced my leadership approach. Some tactical examples include:

    Creating a safe place to battle out hardpoints

    In preparation for challenging meetings or discussions, it’s important to practice and refine your talking points in advance. Create a group of trusted people to help you debate topics and use them to help you refine your talking points in advance of a presentation or discussion (think quarterly earnings announcements, investor calls or a business pitch). The entire intent of this group, and these sessions, is to challenge the status quo and to call out the hard points so you have practice in how to respond well.

    Never present a new idea in the boardroom for the first time

    Thoughts and pitches should be circulated and socialized in advance. This allows for an initial temp check and early buy-in so that at the Board meeting, the answer is a quick ‘yes.’ On the contrary, socialization also allows you to understand if there’s a debate to be had and allows people to be prepared to have that debate.

    Involve mentors and advisors in the talent acquisition process

    For most of our VP and above hires, and certainly all of our C-suite hires, I now invite mentors into the candidate review process. They are a critical part of helping build the scorecard and ensure accountability, which has been extremely helpful for me throughout my career. Involving a mentor or advisor also helps ensure you are hiring without bias.

    I attribute much of my success to the many mentors and coaches who have invested in me over the years. As you advance in your career, consider paying this forward by mentoring other aspiring leaders.

    Related: What Meaningful Mentorship For Women Employees Should Look Like

    2. Fail fast

    Taking risks can be terrifying, but to elevate your career, it is necessary to learn how to take calculated risks and embrace failure. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Taking risks challenges you and helps you strive for growth — and if you’re not pushing the envelope, you’re not innovating and evolving. Outweighing the risk versus reward is where the balance comes in. Does the potential failure have a significant negative impact on the business, or would it just be uncomfortable? If (and when) you do fail, the important thing is to be able to pick yourself back up, learn from the failure, move forward fast and improve for next time. When you truly embrace this approach as a leader and support it as a part of your culture, you’ll be amazed by the creativity and innovation that follow from your team.

    In fact, at Pushpay, we embrace, what we call a Blameless Culture approach, which actually originated from the healthcare industry. Moving from blame to promoting a culture of accountability creates trust and psychological safety within your organization and supports growth. At Pushpay, this approach has not only shaped our product and engineer development culture but has benefited our entire company as we work together to achieve our mission. One of the earliest examples I can remember of our team modeling a “Blameless Culture” approach was when a senior leader within our engineering team at the time (in our early startup days) accidentally deleted and lost a mountain of code. It was erased and lost forever, which in turn had some downstream impacts. While it felt like a devastating loss at the time, the team immediately shifted to a solution-focused mindset rather than lingering on the action of the individual. The blameless concept, at its core, is really about learning from failures, implementing those learnings to mitigate for the future, and coming together as a team to celebrate the failures as much as the wins.

    Related: Take the Risk or Lose the Chance

    3. Invest in tools that can help you scale

    Operating with a constrained budget is not fun in the early years and often dictates what investments you can make — especially when it comes to corporate tooling. However, one of the best investments you can make is in software and technology that will have a long-term impact on your business and customers. For example, Salesforce was an early investment for us at Pushpay and one that’s paid dividends as we’ve continued to grow and scale. At the time, it felt like the investment was more than we could justify as a company in its infancy. However, our leadership team understood how important it was to set a solid foundation to ensure we had the right tools in place to support customer relations, sales, marketing and more. From a customer and data management perspective, investing in the right tools helped set us up for success against our competitors in the years to come.

    4. Have a continuous improvement mindset

    No one ever has all the answers – not even the CEO. The path to successful leadership is filled with curiosity and continuous learning. There is a big difference between managing a team of five and leading a team of 500. Ask questions, don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something, and relentlessly pursue knowledge and truth.

    As leaders, it’s also imperative that we maintain an edge for innovation and personal learning, as we’re responsible for inspiring creativity and innovation among our teams. I think it is critical that leaders are intentional about continuing to learn, improve and advance their skills. This is especially true for middle and upper managers, who often need to activate new skills and capabilities to scale departments. Having a continuous improvement mindset leads to small incremental changes that lead to significant improvement over time. What’s one thing you can learn or do today that will help you be a better leader?

    Be proactive in learning about the industry you are in and expanding both your hard and soft skills. Hard skills that are needed and necessary in advancing in most careers are things like data analysis, decision-making frameworks and performance management methodology. Soft skills include executive communication, cross-functional collaboration, networking and building effective business relationships.

    You can broaden your technology skills by achieving certifications and participating in training, conferences and other continuing education programs. Don’t wait for someone to raise their hand to inform you of industry innovations — take the initiative on your own.

    Related: How to Expand Your Business to Over 30 Markets in 5 Years — 7 Tips for Successful Growth

    5. Do the work

    It sounds cliche and almost crass, but there is no substitute for doing the work. In a world where AI is at our fingertips, and outsourcing is normalized — there is no replacement for digging in and problem-solving in an authentic way. Leadership is hard, getting a promotion is hard, and, as I mentioned above — growing and evolving in your career can be challenging. Simply put, successful leaders aren’t successful because of luck. They are successful because they have put in the time and energy and have prioritized hard work and professional growth. I’m not saying the hustle culture is the way to go here. In fact, as a society, I think we have shifted our mindset to better support a more harmonious balance of careers and home life. However, I firmly believe that success comes to those who put in the work, and oftentimes, that means outside of the standard “work day.”

    What are you doing outside the standard nine-to-five to help you grow as a leader? Are you spending some of your nights and weekends on passion projects that are helping propel you forward in your career? Are you initiating time with leaders or influencers in your industry? Much of my growth as a leader has come from a commitment to myself to maximize those moments and be intentional about what and who I am investing time with beyond the standard workday.

    The last piece of advice I would give to anyone climbing the ladder of success is to love what you do. A large part of success comes from finding clear purpose and meaning in your work. When your mind and heart are connected to what you do, this fuels you to come to work each day to do great things.

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    Molly Matthews

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  • How I Built A Multi-6 Figure Coaching Business And Achieved 3-Day Work Weeks | Entrepreneur

    How I Built A Multi-6 Figure Coaching Business And Achieved 3-Day Work Weeks | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Eight years ago, I started my Rise Lean from scratch. I had a mission: Helping people end a toxic relationship with food while losing weight effortlessly, using Asian wisdom. As a new online entrepreneur, I encountered a series of challenges in turning will into success.

    First, I’ve never developed a coaching program. I’ve also never sold a thing. And considering the U.S. weight loss industry was incredibly saturated, I felt anonymous and unseen.

    Today, my company magnetizes a consistent stream of ideal clients from around the world. And with its client acquisition, delivery and support systems built for scale, it’s seeing 20-40% growth month after month while working three days a week. This article will cover five major components that have shaped my company’s core foundation and readiness to beautifully thrive and scale.

    Related: 7 Innovative Online Business Ideas for Digital Entrepreneurship

    Create a remarkable and irresistible product

    People want massive, real and lasting results that come quickly with the least amount of effort needed. If your product can bring them that experience, it’s remarkable and irresistible. When I first started, I immediately wanted my program to be that way. To ensure that, I interviewed 155 prospects to get a deep understanding of what they truly needed, took on 30 clients for a low price and built the first version of my company’s formula, informed by their experience, challenges and needs.

    Throughout the past eight years, I’ve upgraded the course 12 times. Today, I still ask myself these two questions periodically:

    • Can it be better?
    • Can it be easier for my clients?

    Turning your product into a masterpiece should be an unstoppable obsession. When you have a remarkable and irresistible product, it becomes a source of unshakable faith for you — even as you navigate market volatility.

    1. Make competition irrelevant with an irreplaceable brand

    I don’t prefer easy games, that’s why I headed into the weight loss industry despite the crazy competition within. What made me confident? A unique and strong brand identity, which is highly recognizable by my audience. If you can make your target audience fall in love with you, competition is irrelevant and you are irreplaceable. Whether you can have a successful brand identity depends on your ability to really understand your clients, articulate the problem they are facing and tell your story compellingly.

    Who are they? Can you describe their traits, stories, life stages, emotional states, pain points, dreams, fears and inner needs? If it’s challenging for you at this moment, do what I did. Collect customer feedback to get a better understanding of their needs.

    What exactly is the problem you solve? Be very specific and clear about it. On my website, I describe every main symptom and problem my target audience experience. I echo the thoughts in their head to become more relatable and drive a stronger connection.

    What’s your story? What makes you different and amazing? And what makes you irreplaceable for your audience?

    During the first year of running my business, I intentionally hid my story of losing the 50 pounds I’d gained in the U.S. organically, using the wisdom and knowledge I gained from my travels in China. Huge mistake.

    My personal, uniquely Asian experience is my golden competitive advantage. Because of it, I’m able to have a distinctive message in a highly crowded market based on real-life experience. As soon as I loudly shared my story in my own voice, my company’s growth spiked. Your story, when articulated well, can make your competition irrelevant. Check-in with yourself: Are you telling your story without holding back?

    Remember, you don’t need to attract everyone — only the selected group of people you desire to work with. And your brand identity, when optimized, magnetizes only the right people and makes you irreplaceable to them.

    Related: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Startup Pricing Strategies

    2. Price for success — for both you and your clients

    The best pricing model is the one which sets both your clients and your business for success. There are two questions you need to ask yourself when thinking about your pricing:

    • Question #1. What number reflects the level of commitment, services and outcomes from you?

    For instance, if you run a life coaching program priced at $150, I’d imagine this is primarily an information product with minimal personalized coaching. On the other hand, if your offer is helping established businesses get into a seven-figure revenue through 1:1 coaching with a top expert, that implies a multiple five-figure price tag.

    As always, your pricing sends the signal to your target client regarding what to expect, the level of services and the outcome delivered.

    • Question #2. What number will inspire your clients to be serious about your offer and co-creating the desired outcome with you?

    I priced the earliest version of my program at $500 during a test run. I quickly encountered one problem: A significant number of my clients weren’t showing up for the calls or doing their homework. After talking to them, I found they weren’t prioritizing the program.

    I immediately realized two things: First, I’d attracted the wrong buyers who weren’t committed to the work. Second, my price didn’t convey the magnitude of the outcome and commitment from my end. Charging a price that attracted the wrong buyers meant low engagement, morale and client success rate. If I let that cycle continue, it’d kill my business and drain my passion for it.

    Right now, I run my program with a pricing model that ensures I work with the most committed, responsible and coachable clients worldwide. They are incredibly enthusiastic about achieving the milestones set in the course. They are natural action-takers, accomplished in their professions and roles, humble and excited in front of the opportunities to have better life experiences. I never worry if they attend the coaching calls and do their homework. And deep, colorful and high-energy conversations keep flourishing during our live sessions, elevating the coaching experience to new dimensions.

    This dynamic drives me to be the best version of myself whenever I do my work. I wake up in the morning looking forward to our calls. And I never ever feel tired. When combined, all these pieces maximize my clients’ success rate and happiness throughout the experience, which tirelessly fuels the success of my business and my sense of fulfillment as an entrepreneur.

    In this experience, my clients and I contribute to each other’s victories.

    #4. Build a multi-channel scaling ecosystem

    Relying on just one funnel was the biggest risk I’ve taken in my business. Before 2020, I was only running Facebook ads which worked wonderfully for me. I was blinded by the ease and thought I’d never need a Plan B.

    Then, Facebook implemented an upgrade. The next thing I knew? The same funnel no longer worked. Lead flow immediately stopped and it was scary because I thought I was going to lose my business.

    My company bounced back in a few months and ever since I’ve started building a multi-channel lead generation ecosystem that generates multiple streams of leads in parallel. Here are the main components of this system I’ve built:

    How much does it cost to be seen (without clicking through) by 10 million ideal clients through ads? Easily $1 million. However, you don’t need to spend $1 million to reach millions of clients. Getting onto five to ten major podcasts in your niche can help you accomplish that, likely with greater results because a 30-minute podcast interview can gain you a lot more trust than an ad.

    They are similar to podcast interviews, in a different format.

    Investing in SEO is worthwhile for those who desire to build an epic brand that stands out from a whole crowd of competitors. It can take eight to 12 months to take off. However, once established, it brings a consistent stream of ready clients throughout the year.

    My TikTok channel is where I talk to my audience “face-to-face.” It’s not a lead generation platform yet. However, it serves as a powerful source of confirmation for people — building trust before we talk.

    Meanwhile, don’t forget your email list. People sign up for my email list through various sources, and I use it to build relationships and trust with my audience.

    Building a multi-channel scaling ecosystem indeed requires a lot of work. But if you start today and be consistent, in three years, you’ll have a client-attraction system as powerful as a tank.

    Related: Does Richard Branson’s 3-Day Workweek Actually Work?

    Lastly, how did I achieve a three-day workweek lifestyle?

    It’s because of all of these components above. Thanks to the multi-channel scaling system, I now have a semi-automated lead-generation system that brings me a steady flow of interested people. Having established organic funnels saves me from spending hours chasing after people.

    Meanwhile, my brand message ensures that those who approach me are the type of clients you want to work with. It means I’m not wasting time speaking to irrelevant people. With a strong conversion rate, I can sustain this revenue without running ads. Because of that, I’m not spending hours and days creating, maintaining, refreshing ads and analyzing ad-related data. And since my program features an online group coaching experience, I can deliver well to my current clients without significantly expanding my coaching hours.

    At this moment, most of my working hours during the week are split among doing group coaching calls (two hours a week), talking to potential clients (six to eight hours a week), and generating new content — whether it’s new TikTok videos or a product interview (around five hours a week). Every week, I write one to two email newsletters, with each taking between 15 minutes to an hour, thanks to how much I understand my audience. I use automation as much as possible for the remaining miscellaneous work. I also outsource work whenever needed.

    All the groundwork, from product development to funnel building, was developed over eight years since the launch of my business. And I sure have had many 80-hour work weeks in the first couple of years. But thankfully, the majority of the work I did was intended to generate evergreen, compounding results. All of that has allowed me to enjoy my business along with many other things in life — from motherhood to traveling and equestrian.

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    Leslie Chen

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  • Scaling Made Easy: How Fortune 500 Night Vision Can Help Your Business | Entrepreneur

    Scaling Made Easy: How Fortune 500 Night Vision Can Help Your Business | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It’s noisy.

    If you’ve passed your early years of entrepreneurship, it can be difficult to decide what to do next. There are dozens of new ways to grow now. And how do you know if any of them will work? Especially if you have a small team, if you’re a one-person show, and if you started last.

    But if we look closely, there are timeless ways to scale hidden in plain sight.

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    Thalia Toha

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  • 7 Crucial Ways To Scale Your Startup or Business

    7 Crucial Ways To Scale Your Startup or Business

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Did you know that Quibi launched in April 2020 and imploded six months later? It shut down in October 2020, despite receiving funding of $1.75 billion. This article should motivate others to start scaling, so why did I start so dismally?

    Entrepreneurs want to scale, but not all businesses are ready for scaling. Some startups never make it big, so first, analyze if your business is prepared to scale up.

    Related: 4 Keys to Grow and Scale Your Startup

    3 telltale signs you are ready to scale

    1. You meet and exceed business targets: As a new business, your sales forecasts and action plans cannot predict how your business fares. Use exact time frames, expenses and average revenue for accurate sales predictions and increased profitability. Document met (and exceeded) targets to assess your statistical data. Next, set attainable, higher goals; if you still beat those, it may be time to scale.

    2. Your long-term business goals are challenging: If you are meeting revenue targets, why would the long-term goal of increasing profits be an issue? Your monthly returns may be great because you are fulfilling existing demand. Your long-term success may seem challenging because you currently lack people or resources. Refusing sales orders as your demand increases makes extended goals look challenging. This lack indicates that your business is growing quicker than you expected.

    3. Your supply is insufficient for your demand: Rising demand for your products or services is precisely what you aimed for, right? You will lose customers if you lack inventory, employees, or time to keep up with surging demand. The hype and brand image you build will also dissipate. Your revenue and expansion depend on your customer base. Improving customer handling ensures that they remain satisfied with your brand. If your startup is ready to grow, reinforce your infrastructure first.

    Related: How to Know When It’s the Right Time to Scale Your Business

    Successfully scaling a startup

    Entrepreneurs and business owners who scale up earn higher revenue at lower investments. Effective scaling improves your profit margin and increases revenue while reducing costs. Once you have determined that you are ready, the next question is how to scale your business. Below are seven ways you can successfully scale your startup.

    Data helps predict the resources required to scale. While scaling, it is crucial to maintain productivity and efficiency. A successful business handles spikes in workflows without losses like employee turnover. The following strategies make scaling up less stressful and improve efficiency and productivity.

    1. Create a business plan

    Create a durable strategy and include a monthly sales projection and milestone deadlines. List your target audience, ways to approach them and marketing strategies for conversions. These guidelines will help you track your progress.

    Do not forget to log known and expected expenses. Your current expenditure will be the baseline to measure how much it will cost to scale up. Make sure you document all the relevant details, or you may run into cash flow problems.

    Related: 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written Business Plan

    2. Build a team

    Hire employees or contractors, or embrace a franchise model as your operation scales. Work towards developing a cohesive team of people with diverse skill sets and talent.

    Inform your team members about all expected goals and objectives. Look after your team, and encourage regular meetings to understand their pain points. Brief them on key performance indicators to improve their performance. Do not foster employee burnout by expecting employees to take on added roles as you grow.

    3. Reduce costs of products or services

    Reduce material costs and buy used equipment. Hire inexpensive labor and reduce wastage. Compare vendor services and choose the most cost-effective ones. Use effective online marketing strategies that are often free.

    Negotiate for lowered rent or equipment expenses with vendors. Ask shippers for special rates to reduce shipping charges. Find ways to lower energy consumption and switch to green energy, which will cost less in the long run.

    Related: 4 Smart Ways to Reduce Costs Starting Right Now

    4. Optimize your product (or service) for buyers

    Identify your target market and learn how to reach and sell to them before you scale. Keep building your brand image on established online platforms. Create value additives, such as blogs, DIY articles, press releases and industry publications. Ask customers for reviews to build credibility.

    Track sources you get the most traction from to identify and fix issues in your lead funnel. Use the money saved by reducing costs to augment your product or service. Invest in customer service and functionality improvements, add new features and train your employees.

    5. Streamline processes

    Processes and procedures should be in place before companies scale up. Break tasks down and assign priorities. Automate because it saves you time and money and boosts employee productivity.

    Automated billing invoices your customers or adds any applicable surcharges. Automated customer support boosts your customer experience.

    Related: Want to Streamline Your Life? Get a System.

    6. Assess finances and funding

    Scaling costs money. It uses lesser investment but yields better returns. Scaling by using only reinvested profits may be difficult. You may choose to bootstrap to be self-sufficient, but that is not always possible.

    Apply for a business loan or line of credit from banks or lenders, or approach investors to fund your growth. The money you borrow will cost less than equity if you manage repayments well. Carefully choose repayment schedules, interest rates or investor control options.

    7. Improve your marketing

    Small businesses often rely on referrals or free online social media campaigns. You may need to supplement your marketing efforts as you scale.

    Focus on organic marketing channels such as search engine optimization and content marketing. Optimize your campaigns to control budget spending if you run paid campaigns on any platform, and set realistic goals to track campaign performance.

    Related: 10 Marketing Strategies to Fuel Your Business Growth

    Conclusion

    Any business growth requires elaborate planning for short-term and long-term business goals. These goals will guide you on the need for investors, recruitment and automation and their relevant solutions. Scaling is attractive because of its returns, but you will face challenges.

    Stay efficient and avoid errors by keeping data and processes streamlined. Increased customer retention helps; use your customers’ feedback and suggestions for improvement. You can do this.

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    Yasin Altaf

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  • Scale or Fail: 4 Ways to Run a Successful Social Impact Business

    Scale or Fail: 4 Ways to Run a Successful Social Impact Business

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    One of the first lessons I learned as founder and CEO of Truly Free is that meaning well does not guarantee success. Years ago, when we were a startup, I had it in my mind that all I needed to be successful was an unshakeable vision to make a positive social impact, a must-have product, not a nice-to-have product and an easy-to-use website. Reality dispelled that notion quickly.

    Anyone new to ecommerce learns quickly that having a website doesn’t mean website traffic just appears. Basic logistics, however, forced us to reconsider everything — the cost to ship our natural laundry detergent costed as much as the product itself.

    We went back to the beginning. This didn’t mean simply finding a solution to the immediate problem, although that was central to our effort. We started with our business’s core goal: providing a safe product for families, especially children and those with specific allergic reactions from chemicals and harsh ingredients. The outcome was us completely re-envisioning the modern laundry room and how we did business.

    Four key elements emerged as we scaled our business into a successful social impact brand. These critical components required more than good intentions and a website, but the journey — and more importantly, the results have generated a positive social impact far beyond our original vision. Here are four ways social impact businesses can boost their brand’s purpose and bottom line

    Related: How to Know When to Give Up, When to Pivot and When to Persist

    1. Make relationship building a core competency

    To us, customers are family. This approach is more than simply a way of thinking — it is our way of doing business.

    With every decision, we challenge ourselves to reflect on whether we would do this for our family. Would we want our family to use a product with these ingredients? Would this offer or price be fair and something we would recommend to our families?

    Every detail matters. Attention to detail may be a well-worn idea. Still, when customers actually witness the attention and energy put into every detail — from their experience on the website to the ingredient list on the product — they begin to see your company not just for the products you generate but also for the values and mission you are putting out into the world. These efforts result in authentic transparency and trust, the foundation for a solid and long-lasting relationship.

    For example, we put every ingredient on products, so our customers can research for themselves. Based on customers’ feedback, it has played a major role in creating the long-term relationships we aim to establish with them.

    Relationship building may be a unilateral initiative, but it goes a long way with every customer. We understand transactions pay bills, but our experience proves that relationships build companies.

    2. Connect humans to humans

    Our non-toxic fabric softener dryer sheets are handmade by women rescued from poverty and trafficking. Our customers know this and resonate with this. Our customers also know the money they spend with us goes towards helping free women and children from trafficking, shelter and feed orphans and even a village in Haiti that is hearing impaired.

    We make it a priority for our customers to know the power of their purchase and how it positively impacts other people’s lives.

    Transparency combined with purpose makes for good business. Amplifying the human element of your business right out of the gate can rapidly communicate your mission statement and strengthen your position as a social impact business.

    3. Prioritize convenience

    Everyone’s busy. We don’t want hassles, and neither do our customers. We may have the best intentions, but people won’t subscribe to our offerings if we are hard to do business with.

    Brands must always prioritize convenience for every customer interaction. For example, as an ecommerce, subscription-based business, we thrive on subscriptions. If brands can make a customer’s life easier by automating an offer, like a subscribe and save model, then they should integrate that into their website, promotions and upsells. At the same time, we also recognize that a new customer may not be ready to make a recurring commitment after the first brand interaction. To ensure you’re presenting options that will enable potential new subscribers to familiarize themselves with the brand, businesses should offer a way to buy single transactions at checkout and a compelling offer or bundle that will further entice them to try out the subscribe and save with no strings attached.

    At first, some brands might think this model reduces subscriptions when it results in a “dating” opportunity, where a new customer can get to know the brand without the total commitment upfront. As a result, and if done correctly, your subscription base will likely continue to grow.

    By prioritizing convenience in every customer interaction, you are empowered to reduce friction and ultimately meet every existing and potential customer’s unique and situational needs.

    Related: 4 Suggestions to Improve Convenience for Consumers

    4. Reimagine the business model

    As noted at the beginning, logistics forced us to reimagine our business model for the better. Shipping for laundry detergent costs as much as the product itself. Our original plan was a surefire way to go out of business fast.

    What was the problem? Weight. What could be done about it? This question challenged us to approach laundry detergent in a whole new way.

    Water makes up the bulk of detergent. Removing the water would solve the problem and help us fulfill our mission of eliminating millions of single-use plastics. This solution led us to pioneer an entirely new vision of the cleaning and laundry space for homes. Today, we sell refills, not giant plastic bottles that end up in landfills.

    Business doesn’t have to be business as usual. Taking a closer look at operational challenges introduces opportunities to reconsider product development completely. And when you take a hard close look at the details, you can completely reimagine the direction of your business for the better.

    Related: 8 Ways To Pivot Your Business To Kickstart Growth

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    Stephen Ezell

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  • Austin Pets Alive! | APA! Joins Mars Petcare to End Pet Homelessness

    Austin Pets Alive! | APA! Joins Mars Petcare to End Pet Homelessness

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    Today marks an important milestone in the fight against pet homelessness.

    Austin Pets Alive! is proud to join forces with Mars Petcare and leading animal welfare organizations to launch the State of Pet Homelessness Index. This first-of-its-kind tool pulls together credible, consistent data from 200+ sources to measure the scale of the pet homelessness issue at a country level and uncover its possible root causes. We hope this data will be used by animal welfare organizations, policymakers, pet professionals, academics, researchers, and others to better understand where and how to direct action to drive change. Click here to learn more! #EndPetHomelessness

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