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Like all things in life, ‘growth’ of an enterprise comes at a cost. It is the output derived through hard work and efficient planning, in the rather dynamic and an unpredictable market, especially in a developing economy like India.

Pramod Bhasin, former CEO of Genpact says that, “the reason many entrepreneurial ventures fail in India due to lack of focused visionary approach. Many don’t think of becoming world leaders. They say their aspirations are small and they don’t wish to be in the top 10 businesses of the world. It’s nothing but selling one self short and this is the attitude that doesn’t let enterprises scale-up.”

The 3 most important things to remember while trying to scale-up would be:

• Focus on getting the right people on board

The essential part in an organisation is the cultural expectations of  the employees. The success of a startup and its subsequent ‘potential’ to effectively scale-up depends substantially on its work culture. India is a unique market place, as the diversity of its population and the growing aspirations of a ‘young’ nation have opened up many opportunities for new startups. These startups must know who their Target Groups are and cater to their needs significantly. “Indian entrepreneurs need to understand the market dynamics and continue to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” says Bhasin.

• Entrepreneurs need to master ‘Marketing’

Gone are the days when a hard working entrepreneur could rely only on his exceptional operational skills to get him to the pinnacle. In today’s fiercely competitive market, an entrepreneur must know how to sell himself as well as his product or service. He is the driving force behind his organisation and he must constantly make ‘his people believe’ that they are providing the very best product or service in the world and therefore they deserve to grow and so does the organisation. Today, Indian entrepreneurs need to be experts in marketing and supply chain management skills, if they wish to scale-up.

• DON’T be afraid of Acquisitions but DO NOT ‘over sell’ either

Indian entrepreneurs are not known to be keen on mergers and acquisitions. It is a habit that certainly needs to change, if one is looking to grow at a sustainable pace. Acquisitions are important in order to scale-up. It is better to change the business model every five or seven years because the market keeps on shifting at certain interval of time.

Acquisitions are possible because the capital is easily available in the market. However, an entrepreneur must always find that perfect balance between the actual evaluation of their business and the excessively high expectation of their enterprise’s ‘brand equity.’ Over selling could potentially nullify the projected growth. This is because valuations in India are generally deceptive. This could possibly be the reason why Indian companies are afraid of acquisitions in India. It is not good sign for a new business to start with high valuation because there is downhill slope at the end of it. It could be very disruptive in the long run.