Democratising Business Success

Scaling is a critical period that either ends in the company growing rapidly and sustainably or getting stuck in the chaos and ending up in no man’s land. Taking advantage of a startup’s potential for growth requires new ways of thinking, new habits, new knowledge, and new disciplines. Without these, thriving startups don’t capitalise on their initial, hard-earned success.

Successfully scaling a business benefit hugely from guidance provided by experienced professionals. But this guidance can be expensive, and one-on-one coaching and mentoring has limited impact when dealing with or solving the challenge of start-up scaling at a national level.

To address these roadblocks, Art of Scale, in association with FNB, aims to democratise South African SMEs’ access to the type of business development needed to transform a startup into a successful, mature business.

Art of Scale provides personalised scaling pathways, practical implementation plans, a framework for leadership accountability that delivers results, and the tools and knowledge CEOs need to scale their businesses effectively– and it does so via an innovative platform that enables widespread access without compromising on the focus or impact of its approach.

This made it a natural partner for FNB, which has worked for decades at the forefront of SME development in the country.

Heather Lowe, the Head of SME Development at FNB Commercial, explains: “Throughout our years of involvement in business-development support programmes, we’ve seen how effectively Art of Scale’s founders have been able to support South African SMEs to level up their businesses. But that impact, though substantial, was always limited to the people in the room with them. What Art of Scale has managed to do is make that experience accessible to a far broader audience and scale up their impact on SMEs as a result. As such, Art of Scale is perfectly aligned with FNB’s commitment to support our SMEs.”

Art of Scale is designed to support successful small and medium-sized businesses looking to scale their growth. They will typically have a turnover of R5-100 million, and a management team numbering between three and 10 people. Depending on their industry they may have several employees, one or more products, and they will have begun to find traction in an attractive market opportunity. This is the stage at which unanticipated complexity begins to emerge, and guidance becomes especially valuable.

Jason Krause, Art of Scale’s CEO, says, “In our decades of hands-on business-development experience, we’ve noticed two fundamental impediments to business scaling. The first is the cost of one-on-one guidance. That’s why creating an accessible, effective digital platform was so important to us – it makes these tools and plans available to a huge range of businesses that would otherwise have been excluded. The second impediment is sustained leadership commitment to implementing the actions that lead to scale. We know how hard it is to step back from operations, to work on the business instead of in the business, and to hold yourself accountable for strategic goals. It’s not so much knowing what to do that counts but doing it. That’s why behavioural change is a fundamental component of the Art of Scale model.”

The Art of Scale begins with an in-depth diagnostic X-RayTM to identify and prioritise scaling gaps using a business scaling algorithm. This informs a customised business building plan with clear, actionable recommendations on how to scale each business area. This personalised plan, which updates as the business scales, takes the guesswork and indecision out of planning a scaling strategy, giving leaders confidence, and allowing them to cut through the noise and focus their efforts where they’ll have the most impact.

The second fundamental component of Art of Scale is Goals & Rhythms – a powerful habit-building tool for leadership teams to execute strategy by taking accountability and delivering consistent results. It establishes proven leadership team rhythms so that the team moves from strategy to execution, to accountability and consistent results.

Krause concludes: “Art of Scale was built from a deep sense of purpose and commitment to empowering South African SMEs. South Africa’s ability to surmount its economic and employment challenges is fundamentally linked to the ability of its SMEs to flourish. With over 20 years of guiding businesses, we have mastered the art and science of scaling. Now we’re thrilled to make that experience available to more and more South African SMEs, acting as the proven link between successful startup and successful scale-up.”

Art of Scale has made a free monthlong, full-featured trial period available to any interested management team. Monthly and annual subscription plans are available thereafter.