Navigating the Muddle

As a business grows, so does the complexity of your operations.

Gaps appear in ready-made software that once seemed to fit your business like a glove.

Excel and Gsheets multiply by the week.

How can you keep things simple and address these challenges?

Your ability to remain agile will be tested when navigating from 7-8 figures to 8-9. This is what I mean by the muddle: the messy middle bit between startup and scaled-up.

To scale efficiently, you need to create leverage — the right tech can be that source of leverage, getting you from A to B. But you might not yet know what C looks like — the next level of complexity your business will face down the road.

A common mistake is thinking that implementing tech that can ‘do more’ will increase your options later.

For example, you might need another warehouse for a different legal entity. You could implement a multi-entity ERP to be ‘ready’. £300K, and 18 months later, you focus on your home market instead. Ouch.

It’s far easier to add tech than to remove it.

Decide what you must do, plan for it, and then take action.

It’s about thinking big but acting small — being a speedboat, or in Huel’s case, a Fast Ferry: agile but scaled for growth.

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Spare a thought for operators who come into established brands that have stagnated or got stuck in this chaos. How do you become a speedboat when you find yourself at the helm of a very expensive Oil Tanker?

If you join a legacy or established brand undergoing a revival, the tech stack can be as much of a legacy as the brand. Legacy systems like Eurostop, Navision, Prima, Orderwise, Sage 200, and Sage 50 can be challenging to extract. Figuring out if you need an all-in-one is a good starting point for anyone who finds themselves here.

New brands get caught out by legacy tech vendors. Often, people who buy software don't know the market. Watch out for large stands at trade shows. They're usually a testament to an unchanged marketing strategy rather than market dominance.

Vendor Highlight: BRIJ

DTC brands have significantly moved towards retail and wholesale in the past 24 months. What I love about BRIJ is that their solution bridges the gap between online and offline

How do you turn customers who buy your product in Selfridges or Nordstrom into DTC customers? BRIJ is the answer.

Kait Stephens and their team have been creative about the potential for QR codes on products and packaging.

How Brunt Workwear Converted 90% of Wholesale Purchasers Into Known Customers with Brij.

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