Scaling a business gives you options. The more you scale the more options you have. You attract better qualified candidates for openings. You attract better prospects and close bigger sales deals. You create a more robust business, better aligned and certainly more predictable. Your story becomes more confident and compelling. This drives further options that you can execute if you choose, like acquisitions, or raising finance. And of course with scaling you will attract the attention of acquirers which you can ignore or not. So scaling a business is about having more fun not less. It’s about building a business with high growth but with safety. Can we measure scalability over time? Review these 15 questions and give yourself a score.

I’ve used this test to understand how well a business is scaling. Those companies scoring 60 or above were almost always creating a remarkable business, that was growing safely, measuring the right stuff, had alignment across departments and was a fun place to work. I would say they had created rarity value in their marketplace and had established a platform company, admired by their peers.

Give yourself a maximum score of 5 if you strongly agree with the assertion and zero if you totally disagree.

        © The Portfolio Partnership

Conclusions
  1. A score of 60 or above implies you are scaling and creating a remarkable business that is aligned and that is growing in value.
  2. A score below 60 but above 46 implies a quality business but there is doubt whether you are scaling. There are likely to be issues worth addressing now before the business gets any bigger.
  3. A score below 46 but above 30 implies a good business but which contains essential operational issues that need to be addressed. You are unlikely to be scaling and there is a serious risk that your results are not sustainable.
  4. A score of 30 or below implies you are in early start up phase which means if you work on the right stuff your score could improve quite dramatically. If you are a more mature business with a score of 30 or below this implies some urgent measures are needed to create a safer environment.

Addressing scaling issues can take years to achieve but the prize is a more predictable, successful business which is growing in value every year.

The Portfolio Partnership offers a unique service in this area. Our Scalability Report Service delivers:

  1. An objective Scalability Score with 15 separate scores for each issue.
  2. A detailed conclusions section explaining what affected the score.
  3. A set of measured actions you can take with your team to dramatically change your score. These actions are laid out in 60, 90, and 120 day action plans.
  4. Our protocol is discrete, quick and effective. Prices range from $5000 to $15000 depending on the size and complexity of the business.