You're Not Ready to Scale (Yet)
- Dave Hanley
- May 23
- 2 min read
Updated: 19 hours ago
Introducing the Scale Readiness Score from Techwhale
A lot of founders think they’re ready to scale.
They’ve got a working product, a couple happy customers, and some inbound leads. Maybe they even have a salesperson (who’s mostly struggling). So they assume the next steps are: hire more reps, spend more on ads, crank the outbound engine.
But here’s the truth: most startups aren’t ready to scale. And when you try to scale before you're ready, you don’t grow faster...you burn faster.
That’s why we created the Scale Readiness Score.
It’s a brutally honest self-assessment designed to help B2B tech founders figure out if they’re actually ready to scale revenue, or if they’re still in the “get your act together” phase.
It takes less than 5 minutes. Just 10 questions across the key areas that matter most when it comes to revenue scale:
Problem-Pain Fit: Are you solving a problem that’s actually painful enough to monetize?
ICP Clarity: Do you know exactly who you’re selling to (and who you shouldn't be selling to?)
Repeatability: Can you land new customers without the founder needing to step in every time?
Positioning: Can you clearly articulate why someone should buy your product (and not your competitor’s)?
Pipeline Health: Is your pipeline real? Consistent? Forecastable? Or just a pipe dream?
Sales Infrastructure: Do you have the tools, data, and process to support a real sales team?
At the end, you’ll get a score from 0-30, broken into four categories:
0–9: The Delusional Founder: You’ve got a product and maybe a few customers, but you’re not building a business that scales. You’re likely relying on hustle, not systems. You need a roadmap for real revenue growth.
10–19: Sales-Dependent: Your growth is heavily reliant on founder-led sales and hustle. You’ve likely proven demand...now it's time to build repeatability and hire the right team to scale.
20–26: Scaling Foundation: You’ve put several key pieces in place, but there are still some cracks. Fixing positioning, team structure, or process could unlock your next growth stage.
27–30: Scale-Ready: You’ve built a machine. Your systems, positioning, and GTM are ready to scale. Now it’s about pouring fuel on the fire...with capital, team, and execution.
Along with the score, respondents receive some recommendations on areas to focus on next to be able to build a solid foundation for scaling.
If you’re a founder thinking about hiring a sales team, raising capital, or ramping up paid acquisition — do this first.
The Scale Readiness Score won’t give you all the answers. But it’ll make sure you’re asking the right questions.
Let’s build smarter, not just faster!
