Scaling Operations: Simple but not Easy

Scaling Operations for your SaaS startup by Kat Carter from Squire. Focused on the foundational elements of scaling and highlighted Kat’s knowledge. The Q&A at the end goes deeper and shares her wisdom gained from time in the trenches.

TL;DR: The three lessons that she focuses on are:

  • Priorities matter
  • Tools are more than just software
  • Communication is the key to everything

Priorities Matter when Scaling

While Scaling Operations, executive leadership teams need to set clear the priorities for the company. Clearing your schedule, turning off e-mail, and work through a framework. Determine what the goals for the company are and how each team supports them.

Now that you have your priorities, you need to stick with them. You also need to communicate them repeatedly to all your employees. Every manager should know the company’s goals and use them as a guide for their decision making. The impact of each team’s work on the company’s goals should be reinforced during team meetings. The goals and how teams contribute to their success should published company wide.

Tools are more than just software

“There’s an app for that.” Its tempting to search for software to fix your scaling issues. But often what you need to do is collect data and review your processes. Then put together reports and controls that maintain the improvements.


Bits are cheap. When you build new functionality for your software, record relevant meta-data. Do this even if you don’t have a use for that meta-data currently. In the future an “Unknown Unknown” will pop-up. When it does you’ll be in a much better place to solve it if you can run analysis on historical data.

Communication is the key to operations

Your tools and communication plan allow you to effectively respond to novel situations. Kat shared a story about a severe issue that hit Squire while she was on PTO. The issue affected a large part of their customer base. But, the teams followed processes they built resolving prior issues. They communicated cross-functionally to identifying the issue. The team resolved it, and communicated the solution to over 100 customers within 24 hours. She found out about the event the day she returned during a retrospective briefing. The issue was already closed due to an empowered team who knew how to communicate.

Leverage the most effective communication tool for the task. By investing in training materials (such as an internal CRM), Squire reduced their new hire on-boarding time by 75%. Review the problem areas of your company and see if there’s a way you can improve communication.

Scaling Operations is simple but not easy

If you want to scale operations at your startup, focus on building good tools and frameworks. Record data and analyze it to see where the bottle necks exist. Build processes and tools to help you increase workflow. Communicate priorities and changes to employees in several different formats. Share the most important messages more than once.

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