Start-ups vs scale-ups – Our notes on member roles in Growth Teams

The structure of your growth teams will always vary depending on the phase you’re in; start-ups vs scale-ups.

Over the last couple of months, we at Kanagawa have been interviewing growth teams of startups at different stages. 

Here we share our notes on the key differences we noticed – also helping you put things in perspective that while one strategy may work for someone, it may not for another. 

During the early stages of company growth, it’s not uncommon for team members to take on multiple roles. Most companies hire people with a specific skill set for a specific role, but they also expect those people to take on other challenges as they arise. You need that “jack of all trades” to develop strategies, systems, and processes from the ground up.

As your startup transitions to a scale-up, however, it’s important to narrow team roles. Whether that means turning your sales and marketing person into two separate departments or hiring specialists for each role within those departments, scale-ups focus on enhanced delegation in pursuit of growth. 

But how do you know it’s time to move from one stage to another? 

I’d say you get your growth score, and let data define it for you. 

We have designed a growth framework that takes into account the core pillars of growth for startups and scale-ups, to help them identify when it’s time for them to niche down on their processes, and it’s our give-back to this community.

Here is a link to it.

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