How to manage fast growth without losing your mind (or your company)

Everyone says they want fast growth till they realize that it is not instagrammable!! That is the first thing you should know.

The second is: nothing is permanent when you grow fast… especially pain!!

Every 6 months, something will break and make you question your life choices.

That is part of the journey.

It does not mean you are failing.

It means you are scaling!! (Oh my gosh that rhymed!)

This is how you grow without losing your mind…

Chaos is not a bug… it is a sign

If you are a founder, I know you love stability.

But guess what! Growth does not!

Growth creates chaos. That means processes are going to break, people will outgrow their roles, things that worked last quarter are going to collapse and your brain will start whispering, “hey you idiot, I think you might be doing something wrong”

Do not listen.

You are not.

When things start to feel uncomfortable… congrats. You are in the middle of growing.

You have 2 options: wait for things to cool down before you move forward or change everything.

Spoiler: waiting for things to feel calm is how companies stall!!

Chaos is temporary. The next version of you and your company, will be different.

Stop trying to save everything!!

When shit hits the fan, your instinct will be to fix everything.

That is a trap.

You cannot fix everything all at once and trying to… will fry your brain.

Fast growth requires you to master the skill of prioritization.

I know there are so many people who want your attention but you must learn to see through all of the noise and focus on what really matters and what will move the company forward.

So ask yourself this question:

What breaks the company if we don’t fix it THIS WEEK?

Some things will stay broken longer than you want. That is ok.

They are temporary problems… not permanent failures.

Being busy is not the job anymore

When growth accelerates, founders think they need to be doing more:

- More meetings

- More approvals

- More “just checking in”

Busy feels productive and safe but is how you become the bottleneck.

If everything flows through you, the company slows down even if you are exhausted doing heroic things.

Each time you let go, it gets a little easier.

Build “break-fixing” into the culture

Another mistake I see very often is treating problems like emergencies instead of expectations. Fast-growing companies are always fixing something!! That never stops!! So instead of panicking every time something breaks, maybe normalize it and see what happens.

Make it part of your culture:

- “Shit.. that brokee… let’s fix it!”

- “That worked last time… not this time… let’s change it up”

- “Great. We learned something”

Your goal is not to be perfect. It is to recover fast.

This is a season, not a sentence

If you are in the middle of fast growth and it feels overwhelming… fix what matters now.

Then… buckle up!!

Because in 6 months… you will probably get your ass kicked again.

Later skater. Go build something awesome.

Curtis Matsko - CEO & Founder of Portland Leather Goods