growing up is hard to do…

“The hardest part of running a company, it turns out, is actually running the company, put another way: Growth can be bought, but growing up has to be earned.…”

Below is a great article written by John Battele, regarding business and growing up.

" The business story of the decade is one of insurgency: Every sector of our economy has spawned a cohort of software-driven companies " moving fast and breaking things," " asking for forgiveness not permission." and "blitzscaling" their way to " Eating the world". For years we've collectively marveled as new kinds of companies have stormed traditional markets, garnering winner take all valuations and delivering extraordinary growth in customers, top line revenue, and private valuations... But what happens when the insurgents hit headwinds?. In the past decade, we've begun to find out. The unicorn class has had its collective mane shorn. A quick spin through the " Unicorn Leaderboard" finds a cohort strewn with cautionary tales: Uber's under continual attack by regulators and increasingly well funded competitors.....

While this news has evinced a whiff of schadenfreude throughout the tech press, I think the reckoning is more fundamental in nature. The hardest part of running a company, it turns out, is actually running company, put another way: Growth can be bought, but growing up has to be earned...

Young companies built on venture- fueled cultures of grow-at-all-costs are facing a shift. The essential truth of business is that you must create value for all constituents: your employees, your customers, and your community. That last part may sound squishy, but it's the soft stuff that can kill you. Learning to become a respected corporate citizen isn't on the minds of founders and executives chasing top line revenue and lofty private valuations. But at some point, it will be. I think that moment is nigh. 

What could Facebook possibly learn from a Nestle, P&G, or a GM, you might ask? We sometimes forget that the current crop of unicorns aren't the first group of companies to transition from roaring start up culture to Blue Chip incumbency, or from regulatory outlaw to lobbying insider. 

Yes, the insurgents threaten the incumbents' very existence. But they face their own existential questions as well: how do i build a company that will last for generations? How can I maintain a strong corporate culture now that I have thousands of employees. How do I work productively with regulatory and policy frameworks, now that I'm an established player?.... Turn out BigCos have decades of experience with exactly those kinds of questions. .....Perhaps the two can learn from each other..." John Battele - Growing up is hard to do... 

At RTA Inc, we are the people that help get you there. Businesses today need all the support they can gather in an quickly evolving landscape. 

The Issues: 

• Social Media

• The Website

• In House Management

• The Books 

• The Mission

• The Tech

• The System behind the tech, or lack there of 

• The Product 

• The Platform

• and the blah blah blahs 

What happens when these systems don't talk? What happens when its required they change? How do you not disrupt what you are actually in the business of doing and navigate through major disruptions? What can old business teach us? What works? What Doesn't, whats predicted, what the analytics have said, and more importantly when they've been wrong? 

We sit at that hard corner on your behalf, we thoughtfully review your processes, your procedures, your style, your brand, who you want to be, who you are, and who you are evolving into. We're the company you call when these changes have to happen, to ask the hard questions, to say no to the tough questions when yes is sooooo much easier. We are your resource. We provide a Birdseye view of the tough questions, the pros, the cons, and we bring the “umpf” to make the change. 

Some of the things we do to help you grow up, yes we said it.... you're growing up!!!! and we can help

• Systems

• Market Intelligence 

• Business Plan Development and Publishing

• Aid in restructuring of a company after venture capital infusion 

• Accounting 

• Bookkeeping

• Financials 

• Tax Strategy & Execution

Your best partner in growth.