Set-up chaos, scale chaos.

Why growth should not mean disruption at all costs.

There is something exhilarating about being the disruptor, the team bold enough to challenge convention, leap into new markets and win early market share by sheer velocity. I see it often. Ambitious companies move fast. They build teams, roll out products and open entities across borders in record time. But in this pursuit of scale, a dangerous pattern emerges: operational chaos.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with moving quickly, as speed can be a competitive advantage. But speed without intention is not strategy. And when that speed spills into how a company sets up and runs its operations, it can quickly become the very thing that stifles future growth. 

Set-up chaos = scale chaos

You may have launched lean, but how many layers of complexity have been added as your team expanded? Are you now managing accounting and payroll for multiple countries from a single HQ office? Are local compliance risks, fragmented systems and under-resourced finance teams now the unintended byproducts of your “scale” strategy? 

This is where growth begins to buckle under its own weight. 

In my role, I work with growth-stage businesses every day; Founders and CFOs navigating the delicate balance between being bold and being sustainable. They are often driven by the right motivators: new funding rounds, market expansion, and investor pressure to move fast. But many are missing foundational tools that allow growth to be both repeatable and resilient. 

So, I ask: 

• Do you have real-time visibility into your financial KPIs across countries and entities? 

• Are your reporting structures aligned with what future investors (or acquirers) will expect? 

• Can your operations scale without overburdening your HQ team or compromising local compliance? 

• Are your international payroll and accounting systems exposing you to risks you cannot see today?