Latest news with #scaleups
Fast Company
23-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
From start-up to scale-up: Strategies for growth
Starting a business is one of the most rewarding and high-stakes journeys an entrepreneur can undertake. It's a well-known statistic that 90% of startups fail, with many never making it past their first year. But why? According to CB Insights, the leading causes of failure include running out of cash, an inability to raise new capital, a lack of market demand, and getting out-competed. Launching a business is no small feat, but the hurdles don't end once it's off the ground. A whole new set of challenges emerges as companies transition into their next phase of growth. Brian Halligan, Hubspot co-founder, has a philosophy he uses to describe businesses that are maturing beyond the start-up stage and stepping into a new chapter of expansion: he calls these companies scale-ups. While a startup is typically focused on finding product-market fit and building a foundation, a scale-up company has achieved that initial validation and is now focused on growth—expanding its customer base, operations, and revenues. This scale-up phase is a crucial inflection point in a company's journey. The ability to scale effectively often separates the small percentage of businesses that make a lasting impact from the majority that stall out. Transitioning into a scale-up phase means shifting from scrappy survival to strategic growth, and that requires a different mindset, different systems, and a different approach to leadership. DRIVING SUSTAINABLE, LONG-TERM GROWTH WITH SCALABLE PROCESSES Sustainable growth starts with clarity: clear priorities, a defined mission, and an unwavering focus on what truly moves the needle. Scaling businesses are often bombarded with opportunities that seem promising but can easily become distractions. Instead of saying yes all the time, successful leaders understand the power of strategic prioritization (hint: saying 'no' is just as important as saying 'yes'). For example, doubling down on key customer segments or continuously refining your core product delivers far more value than stretching resources too thin across multiple pursuits. Sustainable growth isn't just about scaling fast; it's about scaling smart—making every decision with the long-term resilience of the business in mind. As your company grows, so does operational complexity. What worked for a five-person team won't scale to fifty, let alone 500. To avoid bottlenecks and inefficiencies, growth must be supported by strong, scalable processes. My leadership team and I are prioritizing two critical areas this year: documentation and automation. We're ensuring repeatable workflows are well-documented so that new team members have a clear roadmap to follow. At the same time, we're investing in automation tools to handle repetitive tasks, freeing our team to focus on higher-priority, more complex initiatives. These changes weren't just about efficiency. It was about preparing the company to scale without losing speed. Scaling shouldn't feel like a house of cards ready to topple. With strong operational foundations, you can build a business that adapts and grows sustainably. MAINTAINING COMPANY CULTURE AND CORE VALUES Scaling doesn't just test your business model—it tests your company culture. Rapid hiring, if not managed carefully, can dilute the values that made your startup a great place to work in the first place. Culture isn't just a set of core values on your website, it's how decisions are made, how teams collaborate, and how work gets done every day. To protect our culture, we take deliberate steps during periods of fast growth. Every hiring decision we make is guided not only by skills and experience but also by alignment with our core values. We invest in leadership training, host annual events to bring the entire company together, and run regular engagement surveys to ensure we're fostering a strong, connected workforce, despite having employees across the world. Scaling should never feel like a choice between growth and culture. There is no universal right or wrong way to maintain a great company culture, but intentionality is key. A strong team aligned with your mission is critical to long-term success. STAYING AGILE IN A DYNAMIC MARKET Perhaps the most underestimated strength a company can have is agility. Market conditions shift, customer needs evolve, and competition intensifies as you grow. Companies that succeed in scaling are those that remain agile, constantly refining their product offerings and optimizing for product-market fit. According to Halligan, agility doesn't mean changing direction at the first sign of turbulence, but having the discipline to adapt intelligently when necessary. I often remind our leadership team that adaptability and discipline must go hand in hand. During economic shifts, reassessing product strategy and focusing on core offerings that customers rely on most can be the difference between thriving and merely surviving. After all, product-market fit should already be established in the startup phase—scaling should now focus on optimizing for product-market scale (i.e., ensuring ease of use with more efficient implementation). At the same time, encouraging experimentation and allowing teams to test new ideas quickly is crucial for revenue growth and scaling product-market fit. The challenge lies in striking the right balance between doubling down and pivoting. There's no perfect formula—mistakes will be made. But staying curious, learning from peers and mentors, and drawing insights from those who have scaled before you can help make educated, informed decisions and keep your company agile in an unpredictable economic environment. LOOKING AHEAD The transition from start-up to scale-up isn't easy, but that makes it so rewarding. By relentlessly focusing on these core tenets, many of which Halligan references as part of his scale-up strategy— scalable processes, maintaining a strong team culture, and adaptability in a changing market—you're not just growing a company, you're building a foundation for long-term success.
Zawya
07-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Djembe Consultants Holds Demo Day & Announces Regional Winners of 2024 Accelerate with Djembe Cohort Pitch
Djembe Consultants (Djembe) ( the MEA region's Communications Partner of Choice, has announced the winners of its inaugural Accelerate with Djembe cohort at a demo day event in Accra. The Accelerate with Djembe Program, the world's first communications-focused accelerator program for scaleups in the Middle East and Africa, has provided cohort members with branding, public relations, digital marketing, and investor relations advisory support over the past six months. At the event, Djembe CEO Mitchell Prather stated: 'Our focus at Djembe is to serve as a growth catalyst for the MEA innovation ecosystem. Accelerate with Djembe provides a platform to bridge the communications gap we have encountered in the sector, and the results we have seen our scale-ups achieve in recent months only strengthen the narrative that innovation can indeed be powered by storytelling. We are proud of the winners and look forward to continuing our collaboration with them in the coming year.' Winning Scaleups: First place: YY ReGen – Lebanon Second place: Stemaide Africa – Ghana Third place (tie): Mzuri Organics – Kenya&Saving System – Egypt The winning scaleups selected after a thorough pitch will have access to the full offering of Djembe Consultants for one year, six months, and three months, respectively. They will also engage with the entire Djembe ecosystem – including investors, media professionals, captains of industry, and finance experts from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Each scale-up will be treated as a distinct Djembe client and receive top-tier corporate communications advisory services covering key areas, particularly market insight, data analysis, crisis preparedness, and investor and media relations. Co-founder of first place winner YY Regen, Hasan Jaafar, commented, "Our team is incredibly honored to have won first place within the amazing cohort group. We thank the Djembe team, led by Mitchell Prather, for believing in YY Regen and our mission. This achievement wouldn't have been possible without their unwavering support in building our messaging, insightful feedback, and thoughtful coordination throughout the program. We are excited to continue working together in the coming year and to benefit from Djembe's expertise as we push forward with our mission.' The inaugural cohort enabled participating scale-ups to strengthen their communications, refine their messaging, and generate new momentum to grow their businesses. These efforts resulted in the participating scale-ups collectively securing funds or the equivalent of over USD 350,000 through grants and support from global institutions like UNICEF, the WFP, and Orange Corners, among others. Since its inception in 2012, Djembe Consultants has mentored and supported over 100 MEA startups and scale-ups to secure over USD 8.7 million. The next cohort of Accelerate with Djembe will kick off in the year's second half. To inquire about partnership opportunities with Accelerate with Djembe or for any other inquiries, email accelerate@ Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Djembe Consultants. Contacts: French Media Contact: Gilles Ametepe (+233) 576 313 533 Gilles@ West Africa Media Contact: Oti Egwu Oti (+234) 806 659 7535 oti@ Arabic Media Contact: Raghad Sabouni (+20) 127 485 6880 raghad@ East&Southern Africa Media Contact: Tabitha Wambui (+254) 722 140 812 tabitha@ About Djembe Consultants: Named after the West African drum, Djembe Consultants is an independently owned, pioneering pan-African and Middle Eastern communications consultancy with a mission to become the communications partner of choice in the MEA region by combining global expertise, local market capabilities, and customized solutions to deliver best-in-class services to clients. Djembe's home-grown teams in Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria are complemented by a global network of in-house specialist consultants in developed and emerging markets in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Djembe is committed to changing the narratives of Africa and the Middle East by providing various reputation management capabilities, including crisis communications, digital engagement, event management, expert positioning, international stakeholder engagement, media engagement, public affairs advice, brand development, and design application. The consultancy offers advice on market entry strategies tailored to the nuances of individual MEA countries within a global context. Djembe's reputation management work is built upon powerful, research-driven communication strategies that often dovetail with complex stakeholder environments. For more information, visit
