The science of scaling : using data to decide when-and how fast-to scale revenue / Mark Roberge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roberge, Mark (Sales executive)., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Small business--Growth.

Small business.

Profit.

Strategic planning.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (307 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, [2026]

Summary:

Are You Ready to Scale Sales? How Fast? These two questions are mission critical to the success of any startup, product launch, or market expansion. Yet, too often we rely on gut feel--or let irrelevant signals like a recent fundraise or comparisons to past unicorns--to drive our decisions. The Science of Scaling offers a rigorous framework for founders, executives, and investors to calculate the answers using their company's actual performance data--not wishful thinking. Drawing on insights from hundreds of startups over the past 25 years, Mark Roberge--Founding CRO at HubSpot, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, and Co-Founder of Stage 2 Capital--reveals the five most common reasons revenue acceleration efforts fail: Premature focus on top-line revenue over consistent customer value creation Inadequate, non-data-driven definitions of product-market fit Misunderstanding the GTM capabilities needed before hiring salespeople Front-loading sales hires instead of pacing hiring based on readiness Confusing temporary spikes with lasting competitive advantage Whether you're a founder starting to scale, an investor guiding your portfolio, or a GM launching a new product, The Science of Scaling is your operating manual. Don't guess. Don't gamble. Scale scientifically.

Contents:

Introduction

Are We Ready to Scale? How Fast?

Part I The Science of Scaling Framework: Calculating Whether We Are Ready to Scale and How Fast

Phase 1 Product-Market Fit

Chapter 1 Is Product-Market Fit … a Feeling?

Chapter 2 Defining the Leading Indicator of Retention (LIR)

Measuring the Leading Indicator of Retention and Pursuit of Product-Market Fit

Chapter 3 Defining the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Operationalizing ICP Experimentation During the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit

Chapter 4 Instrumenting the LIR Measurement for Scale

Did We Choose the Correct LIR?

What We Learned

Phase 2 Go-to-Market Fit

Chapter 5 The Product Fits, but Does the Go-to-Market?

Phase 3 Growth and Moat

Chapter 6 How Fast Should We Scale?

Chapter 7 Building the Bottom-Up Scale Model

Part II Aligning the Go-to-Market System with Product-Market Fit

Chapter 8 Defining the Go-to-Market System

Chapter 9 The Optimal Design of the Go-to-Market System Is Contextual

Aligning the Go-to-Market System with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit

Chapter 10 Aligning ICP with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit: Early Adopters Fostering Rapid Learning

Chapter 11 Aligning the Go-to-Market Process with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit: Founder-Led, Learning-Oriented

Chapter 12 Aligning GTM Hires with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit: Half Product Manager, Half Account Executive

Discovery-Oriented Sales Approach

Cross-Functional Team Collaboration3

Chapter 13 Aligning Demand Generation with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit: Rely on Personal Network and Referrals

Chapter 14 Aligning Pricing with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit: Price for Commitment, Not Profits.

Chapter 15 Aligning GTM Compensation with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit: Equity Instead of Variable Commission

Chapter 16 Aligning Go-to-Market System Outputs with the Pursuit of Product-Market Fit: LIR Achievement

Part III Aligning the Go-to-Market System with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit

Chapter 17 Aligning ICP with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit: Expand from Early Adopter to Early Majority

Chapter 18 Aligning the Go-to-Market Process with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit: Codified and Repeatable

Go-to-Market Process Component #1: Buyer Journey

Go-to-Market Process Component #2: Discovery Guide

Go-to-Market Process Component #3: Presentation Guide

Go-to-Market Process Component #4: Customer Success Guide

Summarizing the End-to-End Go-to-Market Process into a Navigation System

Chapter 19 Aligning GTM Hires with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit: Process Builder

Go-to-Market Process Development

Thrives in Rapid Change Environment

Sales Process Execution

Chapter 20 Aligning Demand Generation with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit: At Least One Scalable, Measurable Medium

Chapter 21 Aligning Pricing with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit: The Intersection of Customer ROI, Scalable Unit Economics, and Substitute Options

Lens 1: Buyer ROI

Lens 2: Unit Economics Goals

Lens 3: Competition or Substitutes

Chapter 22 Aligning Go-to-Market Compensation with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit: Balancing Customer Retention and Profitable Growth

Chapter 23 Aligning Go-to-Market System Outputs with the Pursuit of Go-to-Market Fit: Leading Indicator of Unit Economic Achievement

Part IV Aligning the Go-to-Market System with the Pursuit of Growth and Moat

Chapter 24 Aligning ICP with Growth and Moat: Scale vs. Experiment vs. Ignore Segments.

Chapter 25 Aligning the GTM Process with Growth and Moat: Reinforced

Chapter 26 Aligning GTM Hires with Growth and Moat: Process Executors

Coachability

Curiosity

Chapter 27 Aligning Demand Generation with Growth and Moat: Multiple Mediums Tightly Aligned with Sales

Chapter 28 Align Pricing with Growth and Moat: Establish Moat and Raise Price

Chapter 29 Align GTM Compensation with Growth and Moat: Add Promotion Paths

Promotion to Manager

Coaching

Promotion to New Individual Contributor Roles

Promotion Within Individual Contributor Roles

Chapter 30 Aligning Go-to-Market System Outputs with Growth and Moat: Accelerate While Preserving PMF and GTMF

Conclusion

Appendix: The Potential Impact of AI on the Science of Scaling Framework

The Arc of Abstraction

Phase I: AI Handles Nonselling Tasks. Humans Sell

Phase II: AI Sells to Humans

Closing Thoughts

Notes

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

EULA.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-394-31943-6

9781394319435

OCLC:

1569922910