How to Grow a Startup Without Hiring

As soon as a startup gets a hint of product-market fit, its next goal is often to grow as quickly as possible. The implication of startup growth is that it requires hiring more people. However, hiring more people isn’t always feasible or a good idea, even for startups that feel like they’re ready to grow.

In the lean times we live in today, there isn’t always room in the budget for more employees. The funding may not be enough to support a set of new hires. But that doesn’t mean startups aren’t able to grow; they just have to find different ways to grow.

For startups, the idea of growth automatically means developing new products, selling in new markets, or exploring new geographies. The problem with all of these initiatives is that they are purely speculative. There is no guarantee of success with these initiatives, meaning no guarantee that there will be growth, even if the budget allows for new hires.

Rather than speculative projects, startups can still grow if they simply focus on the core of the business. It’s crazy how eager some startups are to expand into new products, markets, and geographies when they only have 1% or less of the market share in the core of their business. Even if product-market fit has been achieved, that’s not enough market share to warrant speculative projects.

On the other hand, if you focus on the core of the business, there likely isn’t a need to hire new employees. Instead, the current crop of workers can focus on growing the core and gaining a bigger market share. This is a better way to grow a startup after reaching product-market fit. More importantly, it can be done without more people, just a more focused approach.

This is a lesson that not all startups get until they throw away money on speculative projects that don’t pan out. In lean times when there may not be enough funding to even consider these types of projects, growth is still possible. That growth is just going to come from building what you already have rather than relying on new employees to grow in new areas.