3 things to keep in mind for long term success
Every big corporate and tech company today was a startup at one point. During the 2000s' tech boom, many of them grew to become the most valued companies in the world. But they didn't just get lucky. Their leaders prioritised long term success over short term growth.
Here are three aspects they put into practice:
Society-first principles
Many startups today are founded to cater to society's needs, which is exactly what they need to prioritise over maximising profit, growth or shareholder wealth. This might prove challenging to many as investors push for exits and returns on their investments.
CEO Satya Nadella understands the necessity of “growth mindset” rather than a fixed one. He recognized that Microsoft had to move beyond thinking about Windows as its core, so he pushed the company to build Azure, the cloud computing service that now accounts for over $34 billion in annual revenue.
Adaptable long-term strategies
Market needs, technological capabilities, and regulations change over time. Startups need to leverage their core strength of flexibility to adapt to the market as and when needed.
Successful businesses are tuned in to the market, anticipating maturation cycles, changing needs and make the transition before they surpassed by newer startups.
Scalable leadership
Every startup that does well has a founding team of leaders that make the right decisions. However, in order to last, these leaders need to cultivate leaders amongst their younger employees.
They need build a work framework that enables delegation and distribution of decision making throughout the organisation.
Today, startups focus a lot more on expansion and exponential growth with million-dollar funding rounds. However, without taking measures to ensure they can survive periods of lull, or changes in the market, many will fall out of the race in time.
