Try This: An Expanded Definition of Scale Beyond The Bottom Line

It’s been bothering me for months that my definition of scaling is not the same as everyone else’s. Here’s why.

In a nutshell: What’s the point of scaling a company?

For years I thought that scaling a company was all about driving outsized shareholder value. Until a residency in Denmark—and the pushback I experienced—opened up my thinking: As we lead our successful pilots to become thriving businesses with much greater impact, what matters in addition to shareholder value?

As I opened the session on How to Scale Your Business, the first few minutes seemed to be going smoothly. Heads were nodding, and the group seemed enthusiastic. Then came a discussion on metrics for success as part of my equation for scaling, which, at the time, heavily emphasized shareholder value as the main measurement of success. But suddenly, the reception turned icy, and I could feel strong resistance in the room.

People crossed their arms on their chests, and one brave person raised their hand to ask the question that challenged my thinking (with an off-hand reference to The Wolf of Wall Street):

"What's the difference between scaling for greed versus scaling for good?"

The Nordic crowd held fiercely to the belief that any company that becomes big needs to consider more than shareholders as beneficiaries of corporate scale. They brought up other factors equally as important when we lead companies to scale–regional economic opportunities, job creation, and establishment of a thriving ecosystem of businesses.  

In the months since that strategy session, I’ve expanded my definition of “scale”, working with leaders who have a similar vision beyond shareholder value. Here are additional ways of thinking about creating impact through scale:

1. Establish regional economic opportunities that lift and extend communities – Nordic Fintech is an example of an ecosystem that’s responsible for scaling growth for its extended community. 

   
   

2. Create local jobs – Scaling needs to drive local and regional prosperity. Ask yourself, “Have we created jobs, improved quality of life?” 

   
   

   An example of this is RUFORUM’s TAGDev initiative, sponsored by Mastercard Foundation, which looks at higher education as the catalyst for entrepreneurship and job creation.

   
   

3. Build a network of small businesses that cooperate can lead to exponential growth – Rappi started as a LATAM-based, small sandwich delivery company into a $5 billion dollar omnichannel platform. 

   
   

   They did it by getting ahead of customer needs—something I call Emerging Available Markets. And once they saw an unfulfilled customer need, they developed relationships with small businesses and entrepreneurs to fill the gap. Moving from one trusted provider to another with Rappi as the connective tissue led to a growth multiplier.

   
   

   For example, Rappi’s team saw a customer buying sushi and next uncovered a willingness to pay for an airline ticket from Peru to Tokyo. That led them to expand from a payment platform to a travel platform. With that formula for growth, Rappi can always test new ideas on their platform and then use their community to multiply the effect right away. 

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Try this…

• Consider other ways to scale based on your mission and purpose. What’s the way you’ll have the greatest impact on the most people?

• Focus on job creation. Consider how you can create a thriving local job market by partnering with universities and accelerator programs.

• Become an economic stimulus engine. Think like Rappi. Map out a way to scale that taps into a broad network of partners and channels so that as you scale, everyone wins.

When you plan for scaling, think beyond the shareholder or investor. What else matters to your company? What’s your scaling story?