What do you call a business that’s no longer a start-up?
​
 A second stage company.

The typical second stage company:
  • has 10-250 employees
  • generates $3 million to $50 million in annual revenue
  • has the odds stacked against it—more second stage companies fail in their first five years (4 out of 5) than do start-ups (1 in 2)
  • is considered “too big to be small, too small to be big”—and so has a tough time getting the funding to grow and improve operations
  • is an economic hero: between 1995 and 2012, second stage companies only represented 11.6 percent of U.S. businesses, but generated about 34% percent of jobs and sales [1]
  • faces challenges such as building a management team, adopting new leadership roles, defining strategy, expanding markets and creating scalable processes           [1] Youreconomy.org
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Business Lab works exclusively with        
second stage companies. 

Our field-proven services and programs were created 
to meet the unique needs 
of these companies and their owners.

​About the Business Life Cycle


​​
​​Every business is unique.

The good news is, the problems and challenges you face are not.

​As you grow, your business faces a predictable set of tipping points and turning points, and we've guided scores of businesses through these crucial changes to greater stability, resiliency and prosperity.
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THE BUSINESS LAB BUSINESS LIFE CYCLE MODEL

Welcome to our world—and yours. 
​​

Most Business Lab clients are "straddling" - moving out of "First Stage" and into "Second Stage, or "paddling" - already deep into second stage waters and swimming hard.  We'll use this business life-cycle model and other tools to help you determine where you are, what challenges you're facing, and what's on the horizon .

​As you've probably realized, the second stage is crucial to the life cycle of a business. The decisions you make in this stage will determine how your business grows, its market value, and what your options are. In any case, we almost always recommend a plan for internal optimization. You're probably already doing some of that now whether you call it that or not.