The great growth question

Here at SmartCompany we’ve read just about every word ever written by Australia’s foremost expert on entrepreneurship, Dr Tom McKaskill.

Whether it’s high growth, exits or buying a business, Tom has a great talent for explaining complex ideas in a language that entrepreneurs can understand – that’s why we feature a piece from Tom every Friday.

But no matter how much you’ve read of Tom’s work, you always come away from a discussion with Tom with a fresh view on your business and your strategy.

And so it was yesterday, when SmartCompany founder Amanda Gome and PwC private clients leader Karen Crawford hosted a roundtable lunch with Tom on the topic of going from a mid-sized company to a big one.

As a way of introducing ourselves, Tom asked us all to answer one very simple question: What problem does our company solve?

But there was a catch – we could only do so in two sentences.

The entrepreneurs around the table actually made a very good fist of it, but it is a surprisingly difficult task, particularly if you are a business that works across a number of products and services and a number of industries.

However, Tom argues that to be able to answer this problem is crucial for a business looking to establish a platform for growth.

If you cannot answer this question, you cannot focus on the sectors that provide you with the best opportunities for fast, sustainable growth.

If you can’t focus, you can’t get your marketing messages right, you can’t become an expert in the eyes of a certain group of customers and you can’t develop the sort of complementary products and services that can underpin exponential growth.

The real trick here is not just to take the “two sentence solution” test yourself, but to test your entire organisation.

Start with your board and senior management, and then ask staff. Ask your service provides (such as accountants and lawyers) and finally your customers.

The answers will give you a great idea if everyone in your business is really going in the right direction.

Finally, if you are on a serious growth trajectory, it’s also worth checking out the Principles of High Growth video series and diagnostic tool that Tom has developed in conjunction with the Australian Technology Showcase.

It’s a great free tool to help you understand what high growth requires and what you need to do to put these ideas in place.