SaaStr 574: 5 Scale-Up Mistakes for Startups with Dave Kellogg

Scale-up seems easier than start-up in many ways. You've established product-market fit. You've sold $5 or $10M in ARR. You've found a buyer persona to sell and problem (aka, use-case) to solve. You've answered all the hard questions. Now, all you have to do is scale it up. Easy-peasy, right? Not so fast. In this presentation, I'll cover what I see as the top 5 mistakes made during the scale-up phase based on my experience as a CEO of two startups in the $0 to $100M range, CMO of two in the $50M to $1B range, advisor to dozens of startups, and EIR at Balderton capital where we work with scores of startups at both the early and growth stages. We'll discuss: premature scaling, US expansion, insufficient enablement and support, inexperienced management, and the delicate topic of reacceleration after a stall. As a bonus, we'll talk about when your "second album" (i.e., product) should come out and how to maintain focus in a world of market- and sometimes board-driven distractions.

Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software.

Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform

Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976

Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/

Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh

Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8