How Startups Get Out Of Survival Mode and Into Growth Mode

When should a startup begin planning for growth? The answer is now.

The unconventional truth is that a startup should very rarely be acting out of survival — living from one sale to the next or from one month to the next. In fact, survival mode should only be reserved for those periods when uncontrollable external forces conspire to create a substantial impact to business as usual.

You know, like a global pandemic that threatens to take down entire economies.

But I’ll save how to do survival mode for another post. Because even when external circumstances dictate that a startup go into survival mode, every day that startup remains in survival mode brings it another day closer to failure.

If a startup isn’t growing, it’s dying. So you should be thinking, planning, and acting in growth mode all the time. Here’s how to transition your company up and out of the muck.

The moment of truth is CAC and LTV

It’s said that if you want to create a successful business, find something you do well at low costs and high margins and repeat it over and over until something stops your progress. This is true. This is much easier said than done. And it’s nothing that you can just luck or viral your way into.