Win the first customers by hand
Work a founder-led sequence, one customer at a time, and record what each conversation taught you.
Territory altitude
Grow: becoming established
Year three onward. A business is not counted as established until it has paid wages for 42 months.
Grow on the long horizon
Year three onward. A business is not counted as established until it has paid wages for 42 months.
Grow runs on the G.R.O.W.T.H. phase (Gauge, Research, Organize, Work, Target, Health) and then the Event Horizon: what comes after, whether that is steady running, new lines, a succession or a sale.
The team steps down by notice as the company’s own hires take over. You keep an operating rhythm and organized records and materials.
- Gauge
- Research
- Organize
- Work
- Target
- Health
Where Grow sits on the business clock
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Grow
Years 3 to 5
The Super Star gathers moons
Becoming an established company.
G.R.O.W.T.H. phase
- Gauge
- Research
- Organize
- Work
- Target
- Health
Checkpoint Year-five Orbit Review
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Orbit
Year 5 onward
A settled solar system
Running steady and planning what comes next.
Event Horizon
Checkpoint WE steps down by notice
What the public data shows
69.5% 2
of businesses that reach year five go on to reach year ten (average of the years 1994 to 2022)
These figures describe all new U.S. businesses, not WE's results.
What the company keeps
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Operating rhythm
The weekly, monthly and quarterly reviews, run by the company’s own people.
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Organized records and materials
Records, metrics and materials kept so a new hire, a partner or a buyer can follow them.
What you work on in Grow
Shorten the path to first value
Treat onboarding as acquisition: a customer who reaches value quickly is the one who stays.
Set up pricing and support
Publish a pricing page a customer can follow and a support loop sized for a handful of customers.
Report metrics consistently
Write each metric down with its definition and its source, then report it the same way every time.
Assemble the investor evidence
Build the data room and the update habit that serious investors expect, and mark the gaps instead of hiding them.
Where to start
Each of these is open to read today. They are the working tools of this stage.
- Playbook Earn your first customers A founder-led sequence for the first customers.
- Playbook Build repeatable growth Turning early wins into a process you can repeat.
- Template Weekly investor update template A short, regular update written from real data.
- Template Seed data room checklist What an organized data room contains.
- Guide Investor readiness checklist The evidence a serious investor asks for.
Evidence that this stage is finished
WE judges a stage by what you can inspect, not by how much time has passed. Before moving on, check that these exist and that you have read them.
- A customer log: who was approached, what happened and what each customer said.
- Metric definitions written down, with each reported number tied to the place it came from.
- A data room index in which every folder is populated or marked with the reason it is empty.
- A recent investor update drafted from real data and reviewed with you.
- A completed readiness checklist with the remaining gaps listed.
What this stage does not do
- WE does not promise a meeting with any investor and does not run a raise on your behalf.
- It does not give legal, tax or financial advice. Your counsel and accountant are your own, and WE coordinates with them.
- It does not report growth figures for the program or for any company.
Service lines that carry this stage
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C. Customer Relations and Market DevelopmentPilots, pipeline discipline and partner mapping.
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F. Fundability and Investor ReadinessThe evidence a serious investor asks for.
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G. Professional-Services CoordinationWE coordinates your own counsel, accountant and specialists.
The long game
Move fast every week. Build for the decade.
Grow is where the odds turn: each year survived makes the next more likely. Keep the weekly pace, and stay for the years that matter.
Every week
Fast, and written down.
- 1 Plan The week’s cycle is set in writing.
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2 Build A dedicated team ships the work. -
3 Report A written status, every week. -
4 Decide You say yes or no to the next cycle.
Every year
Patient, because the odds turn slowly.
Most new businesses close in the first five years. After that, each year survived makes the next more likely. WE paces the work to that curve.
The wider ecosystem
Join the programs that fit. WE stays for the long run.
WE does not compete with the programs around you. Founder programs, coworking spaces, investor communities and public funding each do something WE does not, and most founders do best using several. Join the ones that fit. WE works alongside, for as long as the work is useful.
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Founder programs
Structured, time-boxed programs with a peer group and a deadline.
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Coworking spaces
A desk, a room and people who are building too.
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Investor communities
Angel groups and investor relations events where you meet the people who fund companies.
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University and lab programs
Research, labs and technology transfer for science-based companies.
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Local small business support
Advisers, training and regional networks close to home.
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Public funding
Federal research awards such as SBIR and STTR.
Independent programs that WE encourages founders to consider. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Plan the years after the steepest one
Start a readiness review. WE arranges a conversation, then sends a one-page read of where the company sits on the business clock and what Grow would need.
WE makes no promise of funding.