—Contributed by Sarath Srinivasan
When the promoter of a company seeks help in scaling up, it stems from an underlying feeling of unease. Possibly his company has been performing well over the past few years but has just hit a plateau. More often, the entrepreneur feels that something is wrong even before it manifests itself in the form of slowing growth. She knows that the business idea has been validated but somewhere-somehow things are just not right. All is not well with the business. The promoter knows that there are weaknesses within his organisation that will act as an impediment to further growth. The company is perhaps a victim of its own success. The initial entrepreneurial spirit of the company is replaced by a team that is restricted to just doing their job – even though that “job” might not be clearly defined. The organisation needs help. But then there is that famous saying that goes – “God helps those who help themselves.” The solutions to the apparent problems lie within the organisation. When organisations come to Milagrow for help as venture catalysts, they have to be fully committed to travel on this path of discovery. At the end of the rainbow lies a glorious age for the organisation where the promoter gets back in touch with his dreams, feels fully empowered to take on the organisation to the next level of growth. He knows that the entrepreneurial flame of his organisation will be lit.

The most common refrain that you hear from employees that prevents companies from growing – “But that’s not my job, it’s the managements job.” It is this refrain that pushes all decisions upwards. Ownership is an oft-repeated word in this context. The environment for the growth of the organisation is not created because the employees loose the sense of ownership. This happens over a period of time as the organisation grows – the employee starts to feel insignificant. Where once he was driving the growth of the company he is now restricted to performing his job. Little does he realise his own potential and ability to drive the growth of the organisation. What ensues is a vicious circle with neither the employee nor the organisation realising full potential. Perhaps one way of creating the sense of ownership within the organisation is to actually transfer a percentage of ownership to the employees. Since this might not always be suitable, another option is to reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit within the firm – this should be the focus of a venture catalyst.