Reflections from TheFactory Growth’s CEO Marinette Hexeberg
Are you ready for growth? Thats the big question before scaling your company. In our business, the accelerator business, growth is the ultimate goal. TheFactory Accelerator & VC has a long tradition of early stage investments and acceleration, and we see more of our companies starting to grow internationally, so we asked ourselves how can we optimize the process from early stage into the growth and internationalization stage? When establishing TheFactory Growth as a new unit of the accelerator, I started thinking about all the knowledge and resources that we supported founders with in the accelerator. We already had a network of skilled entrepreneurs, investors, corporates and competent individuals. How could we utilize these resources better to support startups going into the growth phase? This was the beginning of TheFactory Growth. Our goal is to help scaleups optimize and create sustainable growth, by analyzing companies individual needs and connecting them with the right capital and competence. I see that companies are having different needs in the growth phase compared to the startup phase. At the same time I see some common factors important for optimal growth.
We have been researching how we can optimize the growth process and create more sustainable growth. We have both looked at research articles and interviewed several venture capitalists in later financing rounds, to figure out the most important factors for startup growth. The most relevant factors we analyze and categorize are the startup´s: board, team, founder profiles, product/service, market size, scalability of business model and funding. These are also the factors we look at when analyzing the companies’ needs, as well as the basis to improve the growth potential. Does the company have access to the competence that is needed for the company to grow? Has the company got a well functioning product market fit and a scalable business model? Does the company have access to the right investors and grants to scale up? We encourage founders to have an international mindset from the beginning.
Founders that have solid understanding of their markets, their segment as well as the investors in different markets, will have an advantage and can adapt better to new markets. As a leader in a growth company, its important to understand the trends of the future. Does the product have the right timing and will it be crucial in the future? Is your company well placed in terms of the sustainability challenges that the world are facing?
Another important topic related to growth is leadership; that’s something I have seen destroying multiple companies. Founders are not necessarily the greatest leaders, founders often have a great vision and problem-product focus. When growing the company the founder has to understand the role of the leader, and ask questions like: How can we create a culture in the company? How can we create an employer brand? How can we support every human in the company to perform to the best of their abillities? How can we create the most value in our people? It is crucial to have the skill of understanding people and create a cross cultural, competent and diverse team that share the same ambition and vision of the company.
To be able to measure growth in the early phases it’s important to have a very structured approach. Having clear communication and vision and specific performance goals such as KPIs, OKRs, as well as a realistic timeframe is important. This helps the team to narrow down priorities at each stage and milestone.
TheFactory is an active investor with more than 50 seed stage investments to date. We help Norwegian and Nordic founders secure investments, soft funding grants, board members, and get warm introductions to VCs, Family Offices, corporate partners, and more. If you feel ready for growth and want to learn more how we can help you scale faster and better, please fill in the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Download and read the magazine here! STARTUPBEAT #4 - Ready for Growth