By Anton Chashchin
Sustainable growth is the holy grail for every founder, but it is not easy to achieve. Even companies that are good at developing successful products have an over 80% chance of failing.
In any industry, and particularly in finance and fintech, it is crucial that you do your homework and lay down proper foundations for scaling if you want your business to find success. I have often seen companies start with a handful of passionate individuals and then grow into organizations with hundreds or thousands of employees.
This transition demands entirely different mindsets, and founders often underestimate the complexities involved.
They treat growth as an end goal rather than a process, and often rush it without being truly ready for it. Recent research reveals that early scaling — within the first 12 months of founding — can increase the risk of failure by 20% to 40%.
With that in mind, here are several key metrics founders should keep in mind to scale efficiently. All of these are based on personal experiences as an adviser to more than 50 companies throughout my career.
Profitability and sustainable growth
Tracking the right metrics allows you a comprehensive view of your company’s health and readiness for sustainable growth. The core two among them are revenue growth and profitability. The former reflects the company’s ability to capture market share, while the latter provides operational efficiency and readiness for reinvestment.
In 2025, the market is feeling optimistic about global conditions for business development. According to JP Morgan research, more than 70% of leaders expect greater revenue and profits this year. In these circumstances, if a startup sees a clear path to a new growth level, I would advise them to go for it.
As for choosing the right time to scale: Personally, I would say that it’s when your operations are stable enough to sustain expansion without losing quality. If the ongoing customer demand is starting to outpace your current capacity, that’s also a warning call.
When you’re still a fresh business, a good road to consider is finding partners among established companies with greater influence. They can leverage their trusted audience and bring greater attention to your brand.
Customer retention as a core value
An estimated 14% of startups fail because they don’t consider their customer needs enough.
From my experience, high retention rates play a big role in the long-term growth of a business, both by stabilizing your income, and by making you more attractive to potential investors. High retention means you have a good product-market fit and know how to satisfy your customers: both of these are good indicators of your venture’s prospects in the longer run.
Another important thing is it’s often easier to upsell to your current customers than to find new ones. Moreover, loyal customers can often drive organic revenue growth by becoming brand advocates and attracting new users through positive reviews and word of mouth.
There are a couple of strategies you can go for when trying to boost customer retention. First of all, prioritize the high quality of your support systems and make an effort to respond to user queries as quickly as possible. If your customers feel valued, they are more likely to stay with you for a long time to come.
Also, keep in mind that people love when something is done just for them, so try going for a more personalized approach. With all the recent advancements in AI technology, it’s now easier than ever to analyze transaction histories and spending patterns and offer advice and services tailored to the needs of specific users.
Finally, whenever you launch a new product or service, make sure they are not random. Pay attention to the needs of your current clients, collect feedback from them, and when they bring attention to any pain points, focus on building a product to address those.
This is an effective way to guide your product development and, once again, show your customers that you listen to them and that they’re valuable to you.
Anton Chashchin is the founder and CEO of private fintech group N7 Capital, which focuses on developing fintech solutions, with interests across fintech, banking, IT, e-commerce, blockchain and digital assets. Chashchin is a seasoned investor, adviser, philanthropist and business leader with more than 15 years of experience driving innovative projects across Europe and globally. He advises business leaders, boards on growth strategies, operational scaling, funding guidance and advancing financial technologies.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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