StartUp is a term used for a company in its early stages. A ScaleUp company has validated it’s product-market fit and proven its sustainability.
Recommended reading – What is a ScaleUp definition.
There are 5 ways in which to help understand the key differences between each phase:
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Stage of Funding
- ScaleUps typically have established institutional investors because they have recurring and repeatable revenue.
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Product market fit
- In the ScaleUp phase, the market has validated the product or service with profitable proven unit economics, identified key customer bases and repeatable sales.
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Level of Risk
- Risk lowers significantly in the ScaleUp phase as the company is usually backed by venture-level investors or reached a level of maturity for organizational success. The process then focuses on building formidable processes to scale faster (thus why it’s the messy middle, everything is moving so fast)
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Team Member Roles
- In StartUp, many roles wear many hats. In the ScaleUp phase, roles become more distinct and defined because they have specific growth priorities.
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Leadership
- ScaleUps require a system of strong processes to be firmly in place. Brand alignment is also a necessary step of this level making leadership even more important than before. ScaleUp leaders need to be the most versatile and flexible.
Number 5 is where ScaleUp Edge comes in. We endeavor to foster and build stronger ScaleUp executives for a brighter and better future. We do this because we believe it will have an impact on the entire ecosystem and have a long lasting impact on our community.
At ScaleUp Edge we focus on building high-impact frameworks for executives to get access to talent, market and the playbook to accelerate their person and professional growth on a local and global scale.
Where are two places we recommend you start?
- Networking (for some tips on strategy click the link)
- Become a ScaleUp Executive Influencer (click the link for the EI definition)
