The Agile Startup: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Adding or Subtracting Value?

You may have been able to manage everything yourself at the beginning, but hanging onto the reins when you’re growing at 60 percent a year is a recipe for disaster. You’ll either severely restrict your company’s growth, or cause its demise. You have to delegate. And as you do, your business will start to take on a life of its own. Its business activities will multiply and your team will take it in new directions. In a company’s lifecycle, this is usually when organizational bloat creeps in. Pay attention to the ways that your company grows, and whether this adds or subtracts value. One of your new responsibilities is to ensure that your company’s growth activities add value.

Value can be added directly or indirectly. Activities like introducing new revenue streams, or upselling existing customers add value directly. Indirect value builds organizational value without contributing to the bottom line directly. This is where you usually get the biggest long-term payoff. Improving customer service, for example, is a classic way to increase the lifetime value of a customer and to build a strong brand.

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