How startups can use a 'slow and steady' mindset to scale successfully and avoid WeWork-like hyper growth
- Jessica Mah is the founder of inDinero, a financial accounting company.
- She took a slow and steady approach to build her startup over the past 10 years.
- Mah told Business Insider having a tighter control over the company's strategy is one reason why steady growth may be better.
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A successful startup doesn't always need to have a high valuation or accelerated growth in a short period of time. Success should be centered on building a company to last, even if it means taking things slowly at first.
That's been Jessica Mah's strategy since she founded inDinero, a financial accounting company, in 2010. She knew the company had longevity, because people always need help with their taxes. Mah also wanted to found a company that would fit into her lifestyle long term.
"I wanted to build a business where I could see myself doing it for decades to come," Mah told Business Insider. "I feel like so many of my friends think, 'Oh what's the sexy thing right now,' but they don't really think about it with a 20- or 30-year time horizon."
In recent years, quickly built unicorns, or companies valued at more than a billion dollars, have increased in number and dominated media coverage. There's a fascination with how founders create companies at such scale in a short period of time, but in recent months, there have been reports of toxic company culture and poor governance at unicorns like luggage startup Away and real estate startup WeWork.
Mah saw a certain pattern of growth with unicorns: First a hyper-growth period followed by a hyper compression period. She didn't trust the valuation numbers for companies like WeWork and thought they were too high. The presence of these startups did, however, lead to self reflection.
But ultimately, Mah decided to stick with her steady strategy. "I'm a fan of measured, methodical growth... [but] this doesn't necessarily mean 'slow growth,'" she said.
Here's why she said this strategy has been key to her startup's success.
You have more control over the future
Founders who grow their companies more slowly aren't tied to the whims of venture capitalists and other investors, Mah said. This means you can grow naturally from cash flow instead of investments which can artificially inflate your overall valuation.
You set the company's cultural tone
It's difficult to manage culture if you are growing your team by 200% a year, Mah said. Steady growth can help to assimilate employees into how you want to manage a company.
You control the strategy
Mah projects inDinero will double in revenue this year. But success for her doesn't necessarily mean hitting certain numbers, like valuation or growth rate. She values the less measurable parts of success, like the freedom to be authentic and use her time exactly how she wants.
"Now I think about success in terms of how much time I get to spend with my loved ones," she said. "And also, how much do I get to express my full self at work?"
Owning more of a small company can reap the same financial benefit as owning less of a larger company - and there's less public scrutiny, Mah said.
"You keep your privacy and you make a similar amount of money to a unicorn founder," Mah said. "Nobody talks about that. All of us, we're the quiet millionaires that no one knows about and no one cares about. And it's awesome."