What are the stages of business growth?

The five stages of business growth are Existence, Survival, Success, Take-Off and Resource Maturity. You will also see them called the business growth stages, the company growth stages or the business growth cycle, and they describe the same five phases of company growth. Each stage asks something different of the owner. The trouble usually comes at the transitions, when the capability that got you here is no longer the capability the next stage needs.

Knowing your stage tells you what to build next.

Key takeaways

• The five stages of business growth are Existence, Survival, Success, Take-Off and Resource Maturity.
• The same five phases are often called business growth stages, company growth stages or the business growth cycle.
• Each stage demands different capability from the owner.
• The hard part is the transition, when what got you here will not get you there.
• Knowing your stage tells you what to build, and what to stop doing.

The five stages

Existence. You are finding customers and proving the offer. Everything runs on you, and that is normal. The question is whether there is a real, repeatable market.

Survival. You have customers and some rhythm. The question is cash: enough sales, at a margin that keeps the business alive and gives you something to build on.

Success. The business is stable and profitable. Here you face a real choice, to hold it as a comfortable business that runs largely on you, or to build it into something that can grow beyond you.

Take-Off. You have chosen to grow, and now it is fast. The challenges become delegation and funding, whether you can let others run parts of the business, and whether the growth is financed well.

Resource Maturity. The business is established and well resourced. The risk is losing the agility and edge that got you here. The work is staying intentional as you scale.

Why the transitions are hard

Each stage is held up by a different capability. Existence rewards hustle. Take-Off punishes it, because a business that still depends on the owner cannot grow fast without breaking. So the very thing that carried you through one stage can hold you back in the next. The transition is less about working harder and more about changing what you personally do. The distance between what the next stage needs and what the business can currently do is the small business capability gap.

How to tell which stage you are in

Look at where the strain is. If the question is whether anyone will buy, you are in Existence. If it is whether the cash lasts, Survival. If it is whether to stay comfortable or push on, Success. If it is whether you can delegate and fund growth, Take-Off. If it is whether you can stay sharp at size, Resource Maturity.

If the strain is that growth has simply stopped, that has its own answer: read why has my business stopped growing.

What to build at each stage

The move is always to build the capability the next stage needs before you are forced to. In the early stages that is the commercial engine. In the middle it is leadership and delegation. Later it is systems and capacity, so the business runs without draining you.

Whichever stage you are in, the useful first step is the same: work out which single part of the business is setting the pace. That is the work in how do I identify the real constraint in my business.

Frequently asked questions

What are the five stages of business growth?

Existence, Survival, Success, Take-Off and Resource Maturity. Each one asks different capability of the owner, which is why the transitions between them are the hard part.

What are the business growth stages called?

The five stages of business growth are most often named Existence, Survival, Success, Take-Off and Resource Maturity. Company growth stages, business development stages and phases of company growth are all describing the same sequence.

Is the business growth cycle the same as the five stages of growth?

Broadly, yes. The business growth cycle is the looser term for the same path from start-up to maturity. The five stages give it names and tell you what each one asks of the owner.

Can I skip a stage?

Rarely well. You can move quickly, but the capability each stage builds is what makes the next one survivable.

What if I feel stuck between two?

That is the transition, and the most common place to feel stuck. It usually means the next stage's capability is the thing to build now.

How do I know which stage my business is in?

Look at which question is taking your attention: finding customers, cash, whether to push on, delegation and funding, or staying sharp at size. The Capability Snapshot will also place you and show what to build next.

Where this model comes from

These five stages come from Neil Churchill and Virginia Lewis, in their 1983 Harvard Business Review article, The Five Stages of Small Business Growth. Their lasting insight was that what changes across the stages is what the business asks of the owner rather than its size. For where the model comes from and the capability lens we add to it, read who created the five stages of small business growth.

Find your stage and what to build next with the free Capability Snapshot.