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Key Takeaways

Founders naturally spend a lot of time planning for growth, but the part that often gets the least attention is when to grow your operations with it.

Even the smartest founders wait too long to grow their systems, so don’t beat yourself up if you’re one of them. Read on to see exactly what building early looks like.

One of the decisions that can determine whether a growing company scales smoothly or starts to strain has little to do with the product, the pitch or the funding round. It comes down to something far less exciting: Do you build the operational backbone of your business before you urgently need it, or do you wait until the cracks start to show and scramble to fix it?

After more than 32 years in this industry, I have seen plenty of companies wait.…