An appetite for growth

Even the worldwide shortage of skilled IT professionals didn’t stop software specialist Company X from growing rapidly.

If you want a shining example of a deliberate and disciplined growth strategy, look no further than Hamilton-based software specialist Company-X.

Founded by David Hallett and Jeremy Hughes in 2012, “a ferocious appetite for growth from day one”, as Hallett describes it, has grown the business to more than 50 team members. Staff numbers doubled in a little over two years.

“Our strategy is both deliberate and disciplined, but it moves at the speed of a bullet train.”

Company-X ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 in 2017 and 2018 due to “defined goals well understood by the business’s leaders, who ensure those goals are communicated company-wide”.

Growth comes through collaboration and teamwork. As Hallett says; “Everyone on the team has the same goals – to grow the business by doing an exceptional job”.

“Our founding principles – to do what we said we would do and make the client look good, are also instrumental in Company-X’s success in both domestic and international markets.”

Every month the business must overcome the skills shortage hurdle – they do this through a policy of only hiring the best and brightest, says Hallett – not new graduates, but experts in their fields. “We rely on our team to refer us to others like them.”

Company-X finances its own growth through service excellence. At the 2018 Westpac Waikato Business Awards, where Company-X won the Service Excellence and Global Operator categories, Hughes told the audience that if he had to choose between the two awards he’d choose Service Excellence. “If you provide excellent service to your clients, the rest will follow,” Hughes said.

Company-X has a circular approach to growth, explains Hallett. “Providing service excellence creates an appetite among clients for more work. It also builds our reputation and inevitably leads to Company-X winning more work. The more work we have, the more experts we recruit. The larger the team the greater the capability for service excellence.”

Hallett’s top tips on business growth?

• Start with a unique business model. There’s absolutely no point in doing the same thing as everyone else in your sector.
• Bring in experts. You might hold the monopoly in your field, but validate your business ideas with those who know business well.
• Brainstorm until you can brainstorm no more. Define the principles under which you will do business. These are as important as your point of difference.
• Establish goals using SMART methodology: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based.
• Don’t go it alone. Ensure someone else in the business has your back. A problem shared is a problem halved.

Photo: David Hallett (top) and Jeremy Hughes.