Stages of a startup
Adizes’ description of the first five stages of the corporate life cycle are of particular importance here:
* The Courtship stage, in which the would-be company founder focuses on ideas and possibilities, gives way to
* the Infancy stage when the founder assumes risk. During this phase the long hard days worked by the founder center on generating revenues, with little focus on controls, systems or procedures. Many businesses never make it out of this phase, either because of financial failure or because the founder prefers the short-term pressures and emphasis on producing results today over generating creative ideas and pursuing long term opportunities. Businesses that reach
* the subsequent Go-Go stage are led by a founder who organizes around people rather than functions and retains most of the significant decision-making himself.
* The Adolescence stage comes next, marked by the birth of an operations management structure. Unfortunately, the old-timers often resent the new attempts at structure and frequently conflict interferes with serving customers. The next stage, and the desirable one, Adizes calls
* the Prime stage. It is here that clarity of vision returns accompanied by the balance of flexibility and control.
The Adolescence to Prime stage is often times, when entrepreneurs are replaced by qualified COO and CEOs. In fact the COO and CEOs help to introduce the operations management structures, while the founder keeps the clarity of vision, flexibility and control.
