You might think you’re building a business. But the moment your venture grinds to a halt without you, you’re not building an asset; you’re just your business’s most expensive employee.
Revenue? Team headcount? Even a big client list, none of that matters if everything spins around you. When your business falls apart without your heroics, it holds zero resale value. Why? Because you are the product, the bottleneck, the one-person safety net. And sure, it might work. Until it doesn’t.
Here’s the thing: fatigue hits. Your team can’t navigate without you. The magic formula becomes one long slog. That’s when “growth” becomes a trap.
Here’s the breakdown, crediting Timothy Armoo for naming these phases:
1. £0–£500K: The Scramble™
Your business is a patched-up survival project with duct tape everywhere. You’re sprinting to deliver, money in, money out. Fingers crossed it holds.
2. £500K–£1.5M: The Drag Zone™
You’ve found your footing, but you’re still tangled in the day-to-day. You’re the hub of every wheel; nobody moves without your sign‑off.
3. £1.5M–£5M: The Bottleneck™
This is “you are the ceiling” territory. Teams and operations stall because only you can make it happen.
4. £5M–£10M: The Squeeze™
Scaling for more revenue means more complexity. Suddenly, margin, culture, clarity, everything is under pressure.
5. £10M–£20M+: The Blur™
Now it’s all moving. Too fast. Team is busy, but nobody’s actually aligned on what to build next, or why.
6. £20M–£30M+: The Empire Threshold™
You’re either running a dream-worthy machine… or it’s running you. That’s the empire or the collapse threshold.
Here’s the rub: more hires and bigger pipelines won’t fix this. You need a different operating model that lets your business live beyond your daily hustle.
Your goal? Transition from being the business to owning one that runs itself. Step out of the bottleneck. Build systems. Empower others.
Because success stops being success the moment you realise growth is suffocating your life. That’s the point where your business starts working for you, not the other way around.
