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How to Pivot for Startups in the Growth Stage

Name: How to Pivot for Startups in the Growth Stage
Uploaded: 2020-07-16T23:55:30+00:00
Duration: 1 min 44 s
Channel: Royston G King
Description: In this talk, the speaker addresses the unique challenges faced by growth‑stage companies and offers a practical framework for pivoting and scaling in a…

16 Jul 2020 · 2 min

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1:44

In this talk, the speaker addresses the unique challenges faced by growth‑stage companies and offers a practical framework for pivoting and scaling in a down‑market environment. He illustrates the concept with a Mexican manufacturer that shut down its diverse product line and refocused entirely on producing hand sanitizer, rapidly scaling to 30,000 gallons per month. He then expands the discussion to three actionable levers: (1) uncovering cross‑sell and upsell opportunities within existing client relationships; (2) building logistics and manufacturing partnerships to overcome supply‑chain constraints, especially as traditional sources like China falter; and (3) securing growth capital through strategic funding sources, including private‑equity firms that are actively acquiring companies to inject needed investment. Throughout, the speaker emphasizes the need to assess delivery capability before expanding, to think creatively about value‑added services, and to view a down market as an opportunity rather than a dead end.

Chapters

If you're a growing company, you have a different set of challenges, right? What products are selling? Like my company in Mexico that is at 20-something products, shampoos and horse shampoos and dog shampoos and all kinds of things, they have shut everything down. And they're now selling only, or they're manufacturing only, the hand sanitizer. Right? And they're going up to 30,000 gallons a month. They've never done 30,000 gallons a month, right? So their whole cross-sell, upsell value is about, no, just selling what needs to be sold. But you might have a cross-sell, upsell opportunity. You may be in with a client, with your customers, and hey, I can actually do XYZ. I can actually cross-sell and upsell. I can add value here. I can add value there. So think about that. Again, can you deliver? And then if you need to scale, how will you scale? I've got like the logistics company where we're doing added value, added service. We're connecting them now, our clients, with manufacturing companies and assembly plants because guess what? China's and other places are not being able to produce like they did before. You've got to think about, and I would say think about how you can partner with your clients. Your customers to add bigger value. You may need funding, right? You might have orders now if you, if you're growing and thriving in today's world, but you might not have the funds. So I've actually got relationships with funding sources and private equity. My private equity contacts are buying companies now, right? Because they're going in and helping them with investment dollars needed for growth. So again, in the down market, the market is still there.