The Right Size

Valerie Hope describes changing how she found coaching work. Instead of pursuing each engagement herself, she built relationships through which suitable opportunities could reach her. Working with established institutions changed the demands of developing the business.

I changed my business model. So I wasn't out there looking for opportunities. I created the kind of engagement that opportunities would come to me if they're appropriate.

That is a different decision from simply trying to sell more. She was choosing how she wanted work to arrive and which relationships she wanted to maintain. The business model changed the job she had to do.

It is a useful question for a founder considering the next stage of growth: what will your ordinary week look like if this plan succeeds?

Examine the job that comes with the revenue

A larger team brings management work. More customers may require another layer of service, different systems, or a more formal way of making decisions. The founder may spend less time with clients and more time hiring the people who serve them.

That can be a good trade. It can also move the founder away from the work they most want to do. Revenue alone does not answer whether the change is worthwhile.

Martí Sánchez describes wanting a solid agency rather than the largest one he could build. That preference still leaves demanding commercial questions: whether the company earns enough, serves customers well, and can keep operating when he is unavailable. Choosing a smaller business does not remove the need to manage it carefully.

Hope's model has its own tradeoffs. Institutional relationships can reduce the work of finding individual clients, while increasing dependence on a smaller set of partners. The relevant question is whether that dependence is understood and acceptable.

Compare two credible plans

“Stay small” and “keep growing” are too vague to compare. Put each option into a practical plan.

For the smaller business, examine the income it can support, the work the owner will continue to do, and the resilience of its customer base. For the larger business, identify the investment, management capability, and time required to make growth worthwhile. Include the period before the additional revenue covers the additional cost.

The founder should be able to describe both the financial outcome and the role they would hold. A plan can look attractive in a forecast and unattractive in a calendar. That conflict deserves a decision before the company commits to hiring and spending.

Allow the answer to change

Some businesses need greater scale to cover their costs or meet customer needs. Some founders want to build an organization that works beyond their own involvement. Others prefer a smaller company with close client relationships and a manageable team.

Those choices deserve scrutiny on their own terms. Staying small can be deliberate, or it can conceal a problem the founder has avoided. Growth can serve a clear purpose, or simply continue because nobody has revisited the target.

Set a time to review the choice as conditions change. Customer concentration, the founder's availability, or a capable new leader may alter what makes sense.

Hope's account suggests a useful starting point: describe the work and relationships you want the business to support. Then test whether the economics can sustain that choice. Size is part of that decision, not a sufficient reason for making it.