Sectors and organisations
Founder-led growth
How ready a growing, founder-led business is to scale: decisions, customers, operations, money and people. Assess each function separately.
4 areas · 8 capabilities · 18 questions · answered on a scale from “Agree” to “Disagree”
Maturity levels
- Founder-dependent Most things run through the founder; knowledge and decisions live in their head.
- Emerging Some responsibilities have been handed over, but the business still stalls without the founder.
- Established Core ways of working are written down and run by the team, with the founder steering.
- Scalable The business can add people, customers and volume without breaking how it works.
- Self-sustaining The team runs and improves the business; the founder works on strategy, not in the day to day.
What it assesses
Each capability is scored from its questions, and each team or process gets its own level per capability. One example question is shown for each.
Leadership and decisions
How much of the business needs the founder's time and say-so.
“Roughly how many significant decisions in this area need the founder's approval?”
3 questions
Everyone works to the same short list of priorities.
“We have a short, written list of priorities for this quarter that everyone in this area knows.”
2 questions
Customers and revenue
The business listens to customers systematically.
“Customer feedback regularly changes what we do.”
3 questions
Revenue is predictable, not a surprise.
“We can forecast next quarter's revenue from our sales pipeline with reasonable confidence.”
2 questions
Operations and money
How work gets done is written down and repeatable.
“Our key processes are written down well enough that a new starter could follow them.”
2 questions
The numbers are known and up to date.
“We always know our current cash position and runway.”
2 questions
People
The business can add people well.
“We have a repeatable way of hiring that finds the right people without the founder doing all of it.”
2 questions
Clear roles, and no single points of failure.
“Everyone knows what they're responsible for.”
2 questions