Big Numbers – Where and How to Get Them

The ScaleUp methodology founded by the globally-recognised entrepreneur and business thought-leader, Verne Harnish has been harnessed by Australian companies like Atlassian, Greencross and Red Balloon and is focused on moving fast-growing middle market companies from a revenue bracket between $2 million and $50 million to $100 million and beyond.

Sydney has been chosen as the 5th global city to launch The 12-month Scaling Up Master’s Program. Other notable cities include London, Amsterdam and Detroit.

In September 2018, I held an invitation-only preview evening that provided insight into the full 12 month Master’s Program, with no-one better to host the event than one of its Alumni, Glen Richards, former CEO of Greencross, and current judge on Australia’s Shark Tank tv show.

Glen has applied the Scaling Up framework, taught during the program to scale Greencross from one vet clinic in Townsville to the ASX 200 company, it is today with an annual turnover of over $800m.

Joined by the company’s Chairman (retired) Andrew Geddes, who worked in the trenches at Greencross from the early days, and myself.. A highlight was Glen sharing his lessons from the journey of building a company to over $800m in annual revenue:

Lift Your Line Of Sight – “Look up and the ball will go longer & higher”… you need to ask, what is your BHAG? (Or BEAG, swap ‘hairy’ for ‘exciting’)
Plan To Succeed and Reset Regularly – This is where your One Page Planning & Regular touch-points (with yourself, your team and your goals) become crucial.
Get the People Thing Right – “Assemble an exceptional team better than you, agree on your focus, priorities, projects & reset every 90 days” go from ‘genius’ to ‘genius maker’ – stop worrying about your weaknesses but know your strengths!
Be Patient: Create Strong Platforms For Growth – Quality investment in people & platforms enable you to make good quality decisions.. “When you’re building a house to live in for 20+ years you don’t put shit taps in”.. do you!?
Must Have Passion For The Purpose – You are responsible for everything vertical & horizontal, so you need to have the passion to see it ALL through!

Thanks to a great night launching the Scaling Up Masters Program with many pearls of wisdom and great company. Here are some happy snaps from the hugely successful Australian preview evening.