Planning for and Executing Stable Growth

Managing growth in a startup or emerging company is especially challenging when funding sources and resources are scarce. Customers are reluctant to try new products and it is expensive to educate them. But there are always hidden resources, and making sure that the execution of tactics is as strategic as possible can make the difference between life and death of a young firm. Executives leading emerging companies seldom have the time or the money to thoroughly investigate directions before making a committment. So they have to make as sound decisions as possible, fast, and act on them with conviction. Consider the letter from Vitronics which was, at the time, a small high tech start up that had recently moved to New Hampshire and had received some seed money. As with most emerging companies they were operating on a thin edge and almost every decision was critical to their survival.