Scaling a technology business is one of the most rewarding (and complex), challenges a leader can face. It requires the right mix of ambition and pragmatism, strategy and sensitivity. As someone who has worked closely with founders and executive teams, I know that scaling isn’t just about revenue and market share. It’s about ensuring the people, processes, and plans evolve in sync with the business’s ambitions. It’s understanding where you’re going, forecasting revenue (even if just a best guess), and planning your workforce accordingly.
- Start with the End in Mind: Vision & Intentional Growth
Scaling begins with clarity. What are you building and who are your customers? Where do you want to be in one year, three years, five years?
When the business’s direction is clear, your teams are better able to prioritise, self-organise, and focus on what matters. Vision doesn’t just inform the product roadmap; it influences your hiring plan, internal structure, and culture. When communicated well, it serves as a unifying force during periods of fast growth and ambiguity. - Forecasting Revenue: A Blend of Science and Assumption
Your revenue forecast isn’t a crystal ball, but it should be more than a hopeful guess. A good forecast blends historical data, market intelligence, sales pipeline analysis, and an honest look at your product’s maturity. It can also include an educated guess if that’s all you have to go on.
I see revenue forecasting not as a finance-only activity, but a cross-functional one. If you’re forecasting a 50% increase in revenue, what assumptions are you making about customer acquisition, product readiness, and operational capacity? Crucially, do you have the people and systems to support that growth? - Workforce Planning: Building the Engine Before You Need It
Too many businesses scale reactively; I know, I’ve done it! Effective workforce planning is about building the engine before you hit top speed.
Start by identifying the critical roles that will drive growth. Where are your constraints today? What roles will become bottlenecks as demand increases? Think beyond headcount and consider structure, capability, and succession.
I often recommend building a workforce plan in layers: baseline (what we need to sustain), growth (what we need to hit forecast), and stretch (what we need if we outperform). I also recommend a mix of permanent staff and contractors. That way, you can flex quickly if a drop off occurs. - Scaling Culture Alongside Capability
It’s easy to focus on roles and skills and overlook what makes your team work well together. As you scale, the informal systems that sustained you in the early days (one-on-one chats, founder energy, tight-knit collaboration) will start to strain.
This is where thoughtful people practices become essential. Onboarding, performance reviews, and internal mobility shouldn’t just be efficient; they should reinforce the culture you want to scale. In my experience, companies that invest early in these foundations scale more sustainably and retain their core identity. - My Mindset: Operating in the Grey
I’ve definitely learned not to see in black and white when it comes to business – the answers aren’t always clear, and the path generally isn’t a straight line. You have to make decisions with imperfect information, balance opposing forces, and keep people motivated when the pace is relentless.
You need to stay close to the numbers, but even closer to your people. You’re the translator between vision and execution, strategy and operations and you need to hold space for both the commercial and the cultural dimensions of scale.
Scaling is never easy, but with clarity, foresight, and a people-first approach, it becomes a lot more achievable.
Angela Rieu-Clarke, MD, Buzzqube
