Meaning and values of a Scalable Startup Entrepreneurship

Vinay Nagaraju
4 min readMay 18, 2021

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In this article, we go through some key phrases such as — Scalable startup entrepreneurship definition, differences in growth vs scaling a business and the meaning of scaling a business. In this discussion, we assume familiarity with some common business terms and startup phrases. If you have any specific questions or comments, please let us know in the section below.

Scalable startup entrepreneurship definition

As we explored in the article — what is a startup, the biggest difference is in scalability. If you want your entrepreneurship or business idea to be classified as a startup, work on its growth plans. Key contributors for the growth plan are:

Uniqueness of the business idea

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This defines how different your business idea is or value proposition is for the customer. Your uniqueness need not always be in the product but can be the type of services you offer. It can also be in your marketing or sales model. Most founders tend to mistake uniqueness for a patent. But there are several successful startups without a patent but with a very good idea that can be scaled.

The scale of Demand

You may have a great idea, but it’s not enough. The biggest requirement in the startup world is to ensure that your services can be offered on a large scale. In other words, your economies of scale define the capability of your business idea. Most investors focused on startup are keen to understand how you plan to scale your product. If your business merely focuses on reaching break-even and don’t have ambitious plans, then you’re far from scalable startup entrepreneurship definition.

Value Proposition

What value does your business offer to the end-user? The first thing your business plan must focus on is a value addition to the end-user. The idea of a startup is to grow aggressively and constantly create value. If your business idea does not offer tangible value to end-user, you will struggle to generate investor interest. Focus on proving to both customers and investors that your business idea is worth pursuing.

In summary, the ideal scalable startup entrepreneurship definition is to have a business idea that is unique and highly scalable. It should provide immense value to end-users. In other words, it is a no brainer for people to buy and can produce large investor returns.

What does scalable startup entrepreneurship mean?

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According to Investopedia, scalability is defined as the ability of your business to cope with increased demand or workload. In most cases, increased demand for a business means that customers are liking what you offer and want more of it.

This is indeed a dream come true for most investors and business founders. Most entrepreneurs start off with a business idea with a passion to bring life to an idea and see it working. Scalability however transports the idea from a founder’s initial dream to something of value and substance.

It goes beyond proving that a business idea is capable of working. It shows that the business idea is capable of making an immense difference to a wide set of users and can create ripples in the business world. Managing the scalability of a business will also mean that the entrepreneurial venture has grown into a business and is capable of creating value at scale. This will mean increased customers and the corresponding team size to deliver consistent value to the end-users.

What does it mean to scale a startup?

In order to understand the scaling of a startup, it is very important to differentiate between growing a startup and scaling it. Growth can refer to increased sales or even providing franchisees to operate on your business model. Scale is when you can create a standardised model to be extended to meet the increased demand.

Technological startups generally fall under the definition of scalable startups since they are so easy to provide services to increased customers while still remaining lean. Technical businesses need not expand their workforce on the same scale as most logistical businesses need to. If the technology is robust enough, you can manage scale at ease without having to increase your operational resources in similar proportions.

However, every business model is different and caters to different types of customers. It is important to understand your business model canvas

Difference between growth and scaling

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Most times people refer to growth and scale interchangeably as increase in profits and financial gains. Although this definition is loosely true, this section covers the difference in growth vs scaling.

  • Scaling is when revenue increases without a substantial increase in resources: Both growth and scaling can provide revenue increase. However, it boils down to the number of resources required to contribute to this increase without compromising your quality.
  • Growing takes on a slightly looser definition. For large businesses, in particular, growth can refer to either acquiring new businesses or global expansions both of which can involve a large number of resources. Sustaining growth for businesses takes more effort and investment compared to be able to scale a business

Originally published at https://inspire99.com on May 18, 2021.

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Vinay Nagaraju
Vinay Nagaraju

Written by Vinay Nagaraju

Product Director, Expertise in 0 to 1 Product Development, Entrepreneurship and Startups - Teaching and Lecturing on Technology Led Business

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