Every Company Has Two Growth Curves (And One Is Usually Drowning)

There is a specific kind of panic that sets in about ten minutes after you sign a massive new client.

You pop the champagne. You shake hands. You smile until your face hurts. Then, you walk back to your car, sit in the silence, and think:

Oh no. Can we actually pull this off?

That sinking feeling isn’t impostor syndrome. It is usually your intuition telling you that your math is off.

We spend so much time obsessing over the Business Growth Curve. We track revenue, user acquisition, and market share like our lives depend on it. That line on the chart goes up and to the right, and we cheer.

But there is a second curve. The People’s Growth Curve. And nobody puts that one on the quarterly slide deck.

Here is the brutal reality of the last 20+ years. If your business scales to a Level 10, but your people are still operating at a Level 4, something is going to break. And it usually breaks loudly.

The “Dave” Dilemma

I see this happen constantly in our industry.

Let’s take a hypothetical guy named Dave. Dave is a brilliant designer or a sharp copywriter. A rockstar individual contributor. Because the business is growing fast, we need a manager. So we grab Dave.

“Congratulations, Dave! You are now the Creative Lead for a team of twelve. Go get ’em.”

We didn’t give Dave management training. We didn’t upgrade his emotional intelligence toolkit. We just gave him a bigger title and a lot more stress.

Six months later, the business is booming, but Dave is drowning. He is micromanaging because he is insecure. The team is quitting because they feel unsupported.

The business grew. Dave didn’t. The gap between those two curves is where you lose your best talent.

The Speed Wobble

Think of it like riding a bicycle down a steep hill.

Going fast is fun. The wind is in your hair. The scenery is blurring. But if the frame of the bike isn’t built for that speed, you start to get the “death wobble.” The handlebars shake. You lose control.

You cannot simply “buy” a scale. You have to build the capacity for it inside your team first.

If your revenue doubles, your team’s decision-making speed needs to double. Their conflict resolution skills need to double. Their ability to handle ambiguity needs to double.

If you don’t invest in that “soft” growth, your “hard” numbers will eventually crush the people responsible for delivering them.

Check the Foundation

So, the next time you look at a sales report that makes you want to high-five someone, take a beat.

Look at the team. Are they ready for the weight of this new growth? Have you built the scaffolding they need to climb that high without falling?

Business growth makes you bigger. People’s growth makes you stronger. You can’t survive one without the other.

I’m going to go check on my own team now. I think we’re due for a scaffolding inspection.

Cheers,
Rupesh