The Tale of the Scale

Guy Kawasaki writes about the Art of the Start. Someone needs to describe the Tale of the Scale.

Starting and launching a company is much different than scaling a company. There are lots of accelerators, incubators and generators, but very few scaleraters.

Accelerators are test beds to validate assumptions and do experiments. Scaleraters are designed to get startup entrepreneurs to break even as quickly as possible and prepare for the next stage in development, whether that be global expansion, another round of capital raising, or an IPO or acquisition.

Biomedical and health scaleups have some unique needs:

1. Expansion into international markets

2. Sales and marketing growth

3. More complicated financing, fundraising, and merger and acquisition advice

4. Different skills sets on their boards and management teams

5. Strategic planning

6. Winning the war for talent to fill jobs slots

7. New product development and marketing

8. Human subject trial expertise

9. Small lot prototyping expertise

10. Manufacturing, supply chain, and distribution needs.

Scaleups are different. Sick care is different. Put the 2 together and you've more than squared the potential for complexity involved in getting to the next level. Look for “The Tale of the Scale” on Amazon soon.