Start-ups get all the attention. There is a buzz, excitement about a new idea, the pitches, and incubators. But who is helping those companies once they get into their second stage? Where can they go for help with the unique challenges to achieve continued growth and sustainability?

The Avoka Group launched a project this year to explore these challenges and define solutions and services targeted for this group of small businesses and their leaders [Over 2 million small businesses in the U.S. have revenues well under $10 million and employ fewer than 80 people]. We will share with you our approach and our findings as we go to help you think through your own goals and how you might better achieve them.

What is ‘The Valley’?: After the initial success of a new venture, many companies experience a set of new challenges that can negatively affect their growth and profitability. These companies get stuck in the valley where they no longer have the momentum and popularity of startups to appeal to investors who are more interested in more headline-worthy companies or to attract new talent; nor do they have the resources of middle-market companies to invest in new products and capabilities or to afford necessary professional services.

Lessons from Those Who Emerged: Companies who have been able to leave this valley and achieve sustained growth have all been able to optimize certain factors and corporate behaviors that lead to continued value creation.

1. Strategy for aligning resources against major objectives (such as expansion, new capital, new markets)

2. Strategy for developing and acquiring talent

3. High levels of confidence by stakeholders in company leadership

4. Clear, compelling point of view and position in the market

5. Operational discipline and excellence

If you don’t see yourself and your company in these descriptions, you are not alone. For many start-ups, the skills and capabilities that enabled them to successfully launch and grow are not the ones that they need to achieve sustained growth and profitability.

“In moving past their startup mentality, leaders shift their focus from selling the initial idea for their business to building the systems and structure that all businesses need to achieve sustainable growth.” – Gallup Five Conditions Assessment

Start asking yourself these questions to determine whether you are on the right track or to identify some changes to make now.

1. Are your ‘right-sizing’ your business and growth strategy to focus on a few key changes that can have a big impact on your value creation or are you trying to be all to everyone?

2. Are you hiring prematurely or keeping on people who no longer have the right skills for this point in time in your company’s growth?

3. Do you recognize gaps in your leadership’s skills and capabilities and are you working on ways to close those to build more credibility and bench strength and create a culture of learning and endurance?

4. Are you continuing to look for ways to differentiate yourself from your competitors, realizing you don’t have to copy other successful companies?

5. Have you embraced the need for more structure and process, balancing this with the freedom and free-flow energy of a startup?

If you are feeling like you are in the valley, this is common and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you for reading and following along with us on this journey. Stay tuned for our next post where we’ll go over some of detailed findings from our interviews with Founders and CEOs of these emerging companies.