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Encouraging Growth in a Software Company?

Posted by Cliff on from the proper-care-and-feeding-of-your-enterprise dept.

entrepreneurial asks: "I'm putting together a business plan with a few partners to start producing software for fun & profit. We have a decent early product, several interested clients and enough talent to get things started. The problem gnawing on my mind, however, is how to grow it? I can see us reaching a point in the not so distant future where four or five guys just aren't enough and we have to start bringing in more people. I've worked in massive, faceless bureaucracy and a couple of smaller, mature companies that had already reached the top of the growth curve, so I've never been there. Can anyone out there share some advice, war stories or resources to help?"

2 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Keep it flat by BoomerSooner · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The best place I've ever worked had a very loose structure.

    Partners
    |
    Managers
    |
    Consultants

    There are about 85,000 employees. You don't work under a specific manager you work with managers. The managers would decide where the resources best fit the current need. You were always one person away from one of the owners. Not too bad of a layout in my opinion.

    The worst companies I've worked for have 10+ layers between the low level grunt (programmer) and the CIO. Totally unnecessary in my opinion.

  2. Re:Start hiring by Tool+Man · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It isn't obvious that these guys need to hire anyone yet, so this is premature.

    The company I work for started out as a couple guys, with one client. It's grown since, more like 225 people, but it grew only as needed. That time with some focus will help to iron out some kinks before growth makes those kinks bigger.

    I would think that some structure is needed right away. Pick the boss, delegate the rest, and stick with it. It can't stay too democratic for long, as decisions do have to be made. Our CEO and Exec VPs were the original programmers, and some are still development-focused; the important thing is that they're all still here, years later.

    Another thing, is find a business-oriented ally. My understanding here is that the original client became that ally, encouraging product development and sales to much larger clients than themselves.