If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Should we scale now or wait?”—this episode is your answer. Drawing from Lauren Ashley Consulting’s deep work with scaling businesses, this episode covers:

- The early signals that it’s too soon to scale: unsustainable CAC, founder bottlenecks, leadership debt, and operational drag

- What happens when you wait too long to scale: missed market windows, slowed momentum, and shrinking market share

- The five internal indicators of true readiness: product–market fit, financial stability, operational maturity, cultural resilience, and leadership capacity

- Industry-specific growth challenges—from tech’s agility dilemma to healthcare’s compliance and leadership complexity

- The hidden value of your early employees and why they hold more organizational capital than you think

- Why planning matters—but the process matters more than the document

- How high-growth firms balance ambition with operational wisdom to avoid collapse

- The real tradeoff between short-term growth and long-term profitability—and how to evaluate it based on your market

This episode is your go-to guide for making the leap strategically—not reactively.

📘 Read the companion article: Scaling Smart: Avoiding the Hidden Dangers of Premature and Delayed Growth
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