A Good Problem to Have? Managing Hypergrowth

Finding that your business has surpassed your expectations, and is growing faster than you ever anticipated is as exciting as it is terrifying. Hypergrowth is something that all companies dream of, but few achieve, and when they do achieve it most CEOs quickly realize that huge growth can have some serious consequences. Managing your cash flow during your period of hypergrowth is fundamental to any start up, or rapidly expanding business.

Learn from the experience

Hypergrowth can be a make or break period for businesses, and for the individuals involved. In order to expand your business quickly, you need to have the cash available to support the growth, including hiring more staff and expanding office space and equipment to house and support your staff.

Aditya Agarwal joined Facebook when the company was still only 15 people strong, and stayed there until he became Director of Product Engineering just six years later. Agarwal’s own startup, Cove, was then snapped up by Dropbox and Agarwal went from 30 engineers to more than 200. No wonder Agarwal says that “most of what I’ve learned in my career has been during a period of hyper growth and change.” Managing your company through a period of hypergrowth can be incredibly stressful and difficult, but as long as you have the cash to support your growth, and commit yourself to learning from your successes and failures, the experience you gain will be invaluable.

Expect the unexpected

When Jiliene Helman, the CEO of Realty Mogul, raised $9 million of funding, the company went from 6 to 30 people in about three months. Helman knew that there would be some growing pains, but there was one issue that no one saw coming, “we didn’t anticipate how badly crippled our organization would be when the need for parking spots quintupled in just one week. Nobody could get into the office on time and our employees suffered numerous parking tickets.”

Don’t get so focussed on expanding that you miss the little things. Of course for Helman, the real issue wasn’t parking spaces, but integrating so many new people and new ideas into a company.

Find the right staff

From his time at Facebook and Dropbox, Agarwal says that during a period of hypergrowth you need people who are:

1)      Fast learners

2)      Comfortable with rapid change

3)      Able to improvise and handle ambiguity.

Hiring the right people to add to a growing business requires a budget that will allow you to hire from the top of the talent pool. According to Helman, “it’s not about just training an employee to do their job, but training the employee on how we expect our team to make decisions and the core values at the company.”

Be a CEO and a leader

Many companies that start small and then undergo a period of hypergrowth undergo a massive change of responsibilities for the CEO. In a small business a CEO might be expected to do everything, from sales, to coding, to marketing. A CEO’s job isn’t to work on the small details, in fact it is just the opposite. Focussing on the small details means that you aren’t leading your people or carving out a future path for your company – important jobs for a CEO.

Instead of doing every single task yourself you need to build a team, and internal processes that allow other people to do the work for you, to the standard that you would expect from yourself. This is a costly but critical venture for any company experiencing hypergrowth. According to Helman, “Once you’ve hired a team for all the roles you used to run yourself ragged trying to fill, you can focus on being a CEO.”

Agarwal advises that, to be a leader, you need to:

·       Scale outside of your own skillset

·       Accept that there will be setbacks and failures

·       Take opportunities to learn, don’t be afraid of new challenges

·       Don’t get emotional.

Enjoy it!

If your company is lucky enough to experience hypergrowth then remember, no matter how overwhelming it may seem at times, you are in a position that most companies can only dream of. Enjoy it and make the most of it!

At J D Factors we specialize in helping companies find the financial solutions needed to survive periods of hypergrowth. Contact me today for more information.

Ca$h now, worry NEVER!!!

What if I told you that you could grow your business by adding new customers and never have to worry about them paying?

The answer is simple. J D Factors, will credit guarantee all approved invoices eliminating ALL risk you may have dealing with customers you have no previous payment history with. We will deal with your customers that routinely pay late or take too long to pay. You are able to pick and choose what customers you want us to handle. Here’s the best part, if your customer doesn’t pay for your invoice you don’t have to worry about chasing them down for payment because J D Factors assumes all the RISK of non payment! We have already paid you for the invoice! We take the loss not you if a company goes bankrupt or closes their doors!

By using our programs you can offer your customers longer payment terms. This normally includes a spike in sales and market share increasing the profitability of your small business. Also by using our programs you will have more cash on hand for:

• Day to day expenses, as well as unexpected expenses.
• Taking advantage of purchase discounts for large orders by having cash on hand

Get cash for your business, without adding debt. Convert your assets into cash and never worry about being paid by customers again. Leave the work and worry to J D Factors and let us help grow your business.

If you are interested in learning more about our customized programs please reach out to me via email chernandez@jdfactors.comon twitter @cash_4_AR or directly 289-242-3178

I welcome any questions or concerns and your  feedback is appreciated.

Christian

"my customers really are the best... I think"

Small business owners would like to think that their customers are never going to leave them high and dry because of the relationships they develop and the comfort level they have with their customers. They  believe they will  always get paid and be able to deposit their hard earned cash without issue or delay because the customer would never "not pay them".

However a lot of business owners ignore the warning signs of trouble from their customers such as slowed payments, ignoring and or not returning collection calls. These warning signs are sometimes ignored because they are friends, some because of a long standing relationship. While other business owners simply can't afford to put collection pressure and risk  loosing  a key account while holding on to the hope and belief that they will not be taken advantage of.

No business owner ever enters a business relationship  thinking that they will not be paid. This however is happening  more often then not in this current economic environment. Even if you take the steps to check credit references or take a down payment you are still  not guaranteed to be paid. It only takes one bad credit decision or one bad debt to sink the ship and put your small business in jeopardy.

If only there was a way someone could guarantee that you will  be paid for your goods and/or services eliminating all future bad debts forever. Luckily for small business owners there is.

Using JD Factors  non recourse factoring programs allows you the peace of mind that you will never have a bad debt again. JD Factors will not only provide you with working capital, it will provide you with the security and the peace of mind required to fully concentrate on growing your small business.

I welcome all  questions and comments. If you would like to protect your businesses from future bad debts, please contact me to learn more.

Christian Hernandez

289-242-3178

chernandez@jdfactors.com

Customers taking to long to pay? I CAN HELP

Part of growing your business, means adding new customers. Sometime those new customers don't pay the way we would hope. Their slow payments trends have a direct impact on your business. Time spent sourcing more new business or time spent on improving your own processes goes out the window, as you have to take time out of your busy schedule to make collections calls and chase your customers for money.  NOT ANY MORE!!

JD Factors, has the answer you have been looking for. Not only will we pre vet your customers to make sure you are doing business with good companies that will pay.  JD Factors will take all the CREDIT RISK, meaning if your customers never pay we will take the loss not you. We will pay you once the service is completed, and collect on your behalf, thus resulting in a few things. Most importantly you will have CASH on hand for your operating expenses, pay down debt or use it to grow and expand your business.

Let me know if I can help grow your business with strong positive CASH FLOW!

I can be reached, via email chernandez@jdfactors.com, or toll free 800-263-0664 x220