Start to Scale: Secrets to Starting and Scaling Any Size Organization

By Verne Harnish

It’s OK to be independent but no reason to do this alone (Verne’s founding premise for launching EO, a phrase he borrowed from his friend Joe Mancuso)

Starting up and/or ready to scale your existing business? Desiring to do it easier with less drama? Looking for a resource your entire leadership team and team members can read quickly, getting everyone “on the same page” in your organization?

Start to Scale is where you and your team can begin, with the tools and techniques that have helped over 102,000 firms like yours, scale – including Dave Rogenmoser and his partners who started their firm over a weekend with the Start to Scale tools and scaled to over $1 billion in valuation (the opening story).

Based on over four decades of experience helping firms scale, author Verne Harnish, a serial entrepreneur, advisor, and venture investor, along with his global organization of over 300 partners, has produced this essential guide. Founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and EO’s premier executive education program, Start to Scale distills decades of business wisdom into a practical, actionable framework.

It focuses on four critical decisions every company must get right:

1. People: Learn how to build a team aligned with your core values
2. Strategy: Develop a plan that truly matters to customers and sets you apart
3. Execution: Master the art of priority-setting and effective meeting rhythms
4. Cash: Ensure you never run out of fuel for growth

Aligning with Verne’s best-seller Scaling Up, this is the book you start with, providing you with battle-tested tools and techniques, including:

• The One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP) to align your entire organization
• Effective meeting rhythms to drive accountability and communication
• Practical ways to gather and act on crucial customer and employee feedback

Whether you're a startup founder or a seasoned CEO, this book offers invaluable insights to help you:

• Identify and overcome the three key barriers to scaling
• Implement simple yet powerful routines to drive consistent growth
• Balance long-term vision with short-term execution

Don't let your business plateau. With Start to Scale, you'll have the roadmap to achieve sustainable, profitable growth and dominate your industry – and a place to start. It’s an easy read designed as a guide for all your employees, taking some of the pressure off you to do all of this alone.

This book is a revised and updated edition of the book previously published under the title Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Forbes Books
• Release date: Oct 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798887506777

Verne Harnish

VERNE HARNISH is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 18,000 members world-wide, and founded and chaired for fi fteen years EO’s premiere CEO program held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today. Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 290 partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past four decades helping companies scaleup. The Global Scaleup Fellow at The Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, he’s the author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits; authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times, for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword; wrote Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0), which has been translated into 26 languages and has won eight major international book awards including the International Book Award for Best General Business book; and is the co-author of Scaling Up Compensation. His latest book is Start to Scale. Verne serves on several boards including vice chair of The Riordan Clinic; co-founder and chair of Geoversity; and board member of the social venture Million Dollar Women. A private investor in many scaleups, Verne enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Book preview

Reviews for Start to Scale

[Doug Hall · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everything Verne writes is gold! This book updates his modern classic book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, which is a cornerstone of the popular EOS business operating system and the Scaling Up performance platform operating system. Read it and get to work!