Stop Thinking Small: 3 steps to build beyond the $10M mark

Last week, I joined a mergers and acquisitions workshop alongside 70 top CEOs from around the world. Not one of them was in real estate. Every single one ran a company with at least $10 million in top-line revenue.

It was a powerful reminder: building a $10M business is one game. Scaling beyond that? Entirely different. So what separates the operators who break through from those who stall out?

Three key patterns stood out—and if you’re serious about growth, you need to be thinking about these right now.

1. Strategy and people > tasks and production

Smaller businesses live in the weeds—checking boxes, putting out fires, pushing production. That’s fine for survival. But growth? That’s a different language.

Start thinking strategically:

• What are our real challenges, and what’s the actual plan to solve them?

• How are we creating a competitive advantage that no one else can touch?

Then look at your people:

• Who’s missing from this team that would be a total game-changer?

• Who do we need a year from now that we should start recruiting today?

2. “We” thinking crushes “Me” thinking

At the $10M+ level, no CEO is trying to do it all. That mindset doesn’t even show up in the room. But in smaller businesses? The “only I can do this” belief still runs deep.

Here’s the truth:

• It’s false.

• It’s holding you back.

• And it’s pushing top talent away.

Ask yourself: Where in your business are you still the bottleneck? What happens when you stop believing that myth?

3. Obsess over your customer, not your convenience

This one’s big. A lot of businesses fall in love with optimizing their own systems, processes, and org charts—and forget about the customer.

The idea that “happy team = happy customer” sounds nice, but often leads to internal changes that actually frustrate the customer.

You can systematize a good customer experience right out of your business if you’re not careful.

Always ask: Is this making life better for our customer, or just easier for us?

Here’s the bottom line:

Getting to $10M is an achievement. But if you want to keep growing, everything changes—your mindset, your strategy, your team. Decide what game you’re really playing. Be honest about where you are. And let your clarity shape every decision you make in 2025 and beyond.