The Grow-Scale-Grow™ Model

Your Business is a living Organism.

The "Linear Myth"

There is a pervasive delusion in the startup world that the path to success is a straight line pointing up and to the right. Founders believe that if they just keep doing more of what they did yesterday, they will eventually win.

This is why businesses die.

You cannot treat a $5 million company like a bigger version of a $500,000 company, any more than you can treat a teenager like a large toddler. They are fundamentally different species with different nutritional needs.

If you try to force "Growth" (more sales) when your business actually needs "Scale" (more structure), you will simply accelerate your own collapse. You will break the chassis of the car by putting a Ferrari engine in a Honda Civic.

Enter The Grow-Scale-Grow™ (GSG) Model

Created by John Kendale, the GSG Model applies the laws of human development to organizational behavior. It argues that businesses do not just "get bigger"—they must mature.

Most founders are stuck because they are trying to bypass adolescence. John Kendale’s framework identifies where you are in this biological lifecycle so you can stop fighting nature and start evolving.

Phase 1: Initial Growth (The Toddler Years)

The Era of Improvisation

In the beginning, your business is an infant. It is messy, loud, and demanding. This phase is characterized by High Volatility and High Founder Dependence. You are the brain, the hands, and the heart of the company.

  • The Trap: Founders try to "optimize" this stage too early. They build rigid SOPs for processes they haven't even figured out yet.

  • The Reality: Chaos is normal here. You are discovering product-market fit. You are supposed to stumble. You don't need a corporate handbook; you need survival instincts and rapid experimentation.

  • The Goal: Survival and Discovery.

Phase 2: Scale (The Teenage Transition)

The Era of Structure

This is the most dangerous phase. It is the business equivalent of adolescence. Just as a teenager needs boundaries to become a functional adult, your business needs Constraints to become a functional organization.

Scaling is not "growing." Scaling is the opposite of growing. Growth is adding revenue. Scaling is adding the infrastructure to handle that revenue without breaking.

In John Kendale’s GSG analysis, this is where the founder must transition from "Hero" to "Architect." You must stop relying on intuition and start relying on systems. You must implement financial controls, define roles, and—most painfully—let go. If you refuse to "grow up" here, your business stays a permanent, chaotic teenager.

  • The Goal: Operational Maturity and Independence from the Founder.

Phase 3: Secondary Growth (The Adult Strategist)

The Era of Reinvention

Once you have survived adolescence and established a stable identity, you enter adulthood. This is Secondary Growth. It is not the frantic, desperate growth of Phase 1. It is calculated, strategic expansion.

Because you have the systems from Phase 2, you can now aggressively pursue new markets, acquire competitors, or launch new verticals with confidence. You aren't guessing anymore. You are executing.

  • The Result: This is where the "Hockey Stick" curve actually happens—not by accident, but by design.

Why This Matters

Most people will tell you to "Push Harder." John asks: "Are you pushing a toddler to run a marathon?"

The Grow-Scale-Grow™ Model is a diagnostic tool. It saves you money by stopping you from investing in the wrong things at the wrong time.

Does your business feel stuck?

See what stage my business is in