Young Entrepreneur Council — November 12, 2017 — November 12, 2017
What is one red flag that your company is growing/hiring too quickly?
1. You Are Hiring Someone to Solve Every Problem You Have
When you’re hiring someone to solve every problem you have, there’s a problem. Let’s say you’re trying to bring your acquisition costs down, for example. Instead of hiring someone just to do that, you could search for online tools, ask your advisers if they can help, reach out to industry experts or hire a contractor. Only hire someone if those cheaper, and less time-consuming, options fail. – Ajay Yadav, Roomi
2. Infrastructure Costs Outstrip Revenue
Rapid growth can put a huge strain on the resources of a new business, especially if it’s bootstrapped and doesn’t have investors happy to carry it through a rapid-growth phase. Web-based businesses without a revenue model often face spiraling infrastructure costs they can’t pay. For most businesses, slow and sustainable growth is a better option than explosive growth and the associated costs. – Justin Blanchard, ServerMania Inc.
3. There’s Not Enough Space
The most literal sign you can look for is if your office space has become too cramped. If your employees are forced to resort to non-traditional work stations, such as sitting on coffee tables, then you’re almost definitely hiring too quickly. Outgrowing your office space is to be expected, of course, but your employees probably won’t appreciate having to fight for every inch of personal space. -Reuben Yonatan, GetVoIP
4. Expenses Are Higher Than Your Revenue
As you hire people, the revenue needs to continue to increase to justify the need for them. If you are finding that revenues are not increasing at a fast enough rate, it’s time to slow down and leverage your current workforce. – Syed Balkhi, OptinMonster
5. Efficiency Is Lacking
When you grow too quickly or hire too quickly, you tend to let efficiency go. There should be a measured approach to adding people, and expanding within the confines of a structure that maintains efficiency no matter how big you get. That means adding technology and platforms that can scale with you before hiring like crazy. – John Rampton, Calendar
6. Customer Service Falters
Customer service is suffering. That’s usually the first sign that a business is growing too quickly. Growth should be planned and measured, and you should absolutely ensure you have staff on hand to handle the increase. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
7. Communication Breaks Down
When too many people come on board too quickly, communication is one of the first things to break down, because no plans are in place as to accommodating and informing all the new members of the team. This leads them to be lost, and ruins productivity. – Angela Ruth, Calendar
8. Team Collegiality Falters
While anecdotal, we’ve been able to tell when we grew too fast because new employees weren’t brought into the existing team. If you grow slowly, everyone has a chance to make a personal bond. But when teams grow fast, you’ll find that the new folks are almost lost in the wilderness at the beginning. Whether through surveys, one-on-ones with new employees, or just by walking around, focus on the mood. – Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches
9. Staff Lack a Shared Vision About Values and Goals
If you ask various employees about the company’s business model, mission, values and long-term strategy, they should all have fairly consistent answers. If you hire too quickly, both veterans and new hires may have differing views on these core business fundamentals, or they may not know the answers at all, which can lead to hiccups in project execution and decision-making at every level. – Roger Lee, Captain401
10. Employees Aren’t Learning 
If your employees aren’t soaking in their training, or they’re showing signs of not understanding your basic practices, processes and procedures, that should be an indication that you’re growing too quickly and not spending enough time on educating your newemployees, so that they can be as successful as possible. – John Hall, Influence & Co.
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