Grow

to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses Part I INTRODUCTION

Ed Hess ehess@darden.virginia.edu

Focus of the Course

First, this Course is NOT about star6ng a business. This Course is about the common challenges of growing a business. Its a Course about learning to scale a businessmaking it bigger and beCer.

Why is this Course important?

Growing a business presents challenges that are dierent than star6ng a business. If not properly managed, those challenges could destroy the business. This Course is based on my research of 54 high growth, private, U.S. businessesthe challenges they faced as they grew. From these examples, you will learn how to prepare for your own business growth challenges.

Purpose of the Course

To help you prepare for and grow a business. To learn the meaning of SMART Growth. To give you a beCer apprecia6on for and a researched-based approach to business growth. To help you understand the risks of growth. This Course is not an6-growth. The aim is to present a realis6c view of the challenges of business growth.

Course Themes
Business growth is like Mother Nature: She can be kind or she can be destruc6ve. Too much growth too soon, or growth thats not properly managed, can overwhelm a business. As a business grows, it needs more people, processes and controls. As a business grows, the entrepreneur must grow too.

Course Themes
Growth requires scaling. Growth rarely is smooth, predicable or linear. Growth is a learning journeyone that has ups, downs, zigzags, and mistakes. Growth is change, and change is constant as the business grows.

Course Logo
I chose this logo because it reects that growth: Requires caring hands Small businesses are fragile, just like young plants. To grow a small business successfully, you need the right amounts of the right ingredients at the right 6mes.

Course Format
All of the business cases and workshop examples we will read about and discuss are true stories. This Course brings real-life business growth challenges to you. You will also hear directly from real, private business builders who will share their experiences and knowledge with you through short video interviews.

How will you learn?

This Course is based on the principle that one learns by doing. You will have both required and op6onal readings. You will be asked to apply concepts in the Workshop exercises. You will gauge your understanding of concepts through in-video quizzes. Through the Discussion Forums, you will learn from each other.

 This Course is an opportunity for you to learn and grow together. I encourage you to par6cipate in the Discussion Forums and create your own Study Group Forums based on geography, your type of business or profession or any other aCributes you wish. Please carefully read the instruc6ons on our Course page regarding pos6ng comments on the Discussion Forms and crea6ng your own Study Groups. You may also choose to get together with your Study Groups through Meetups.

CreaGng a Course Community

A Few Course Ground Rules

This Course is oered by the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia for free because of the schools mission to posi6vely impact society. I expect that everyone taking this Course will act respec\ully toward classmates. Everyone is here to learn. During the Course, you will have the opportunity to raise ques6ons and oer feedback. My goal is to make this a great learning experience for you.