In short: Every company that truly grows goes through crises – a gap between expenses and revenue, organizational change, layoffs, growing too fast, and the move to scale. A crisis is not a fault on the road but part of growth; the question is not whether it will come but how you will hold on mentally when it does.
Why there is no growth without crises
When people talk about entrepreneurship, they like to talk about successes: funding rounds, exits, breakthroughs.
But the reality is simpler and less glamorous: every founder, and every company that is truly growing, goes through crises.
Not because someone failed.
But because that is what growth looks like from the inside.
The crisis is not a fault on the road. It is the road.
And understanding that completely changes how founders experience the journey.
Why crises are unavoidable
Every stage of growth creates problems that did not exist before.
What worked at one million in revenue does not work at ten.
What suited five employees collapses at fifty.
If there are no crises, one of two things is probably happening:
- Either the company is not really growing
- Or the next crisis is just around the corner
The crises every founder meets:
A gap between expenses and revenue
The classic crisis. The team grows, the infrastructure is built, and revenue does not keep up.
This is the stage when you start doubting everything: the vision, the decisions, and yourself.
How to deal with it: full transparency with investors, deliberately pausing plans, and a ruthless focus on what creates value right now.
Organizational change
The company has grown, and the old structure no longer works. Roles blur, decisions get stuck, and what used to be flexible becomes chaotic.
How to deal with it: accept that it hurts by definition. Communicate the change, and come to terms with the fact that not everyone will stay. It is part of the process.
Layoffs
This is the most personal crisis. People who believed, who worked hard, and who no longer always fit the new reality.
How to deal with it: understand that layoffs are a management responsibility, not a moral failure. Do it with respect, honesty and humanity.
Growing too fast
Sometimes the crisis is actually success. A big opportunity, enormous pressure, a need to grow very fast without making mistakes.
How to deal with it: focus, careful operational planning, and building a management layer that can run fast without close supervision.
Moving from first customers to scale
What worked for ten customers does not work for a thousand. You have to move from personal to standard, from a relationship to a system.
How to deal with it: honest communication with existing customers, and building processes that keep quality high even as the relationship changes.
How to survive crises mentally
- Accept the discomfort. It is not personal, and it is not unique to you.
- Do not stay alone. Isolation is a founder’s greatest enemy.
- Remember the why. Crises blur the vision. You have to return to it deliberately.
- Separate the business from your personal identity. A business in crisis does not make you a failure.
In summary
Crises are not an interruption to growth. They are the growth.
A company without crises is a company standing still.
The real question is not whether a crisis will come.
It will.
The question is how you will get through it.
Entrepreneurship is first of all a mental challenge.
Those who hold on mentally along the way greatly increase their chances of succeeding in business too.
In my book I go deeper into these crises, including the personal price they exact and how you learn to hold on over time while going through them.
