Why Slow and Steady Wins the Race For our series The Grind, the founder of sports-drink company Amara offers up advice on how to expand intelligently.

By Greg Connolly Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

spanishdict.com

No matter if you're adding your tenth customer or your ten thousandth, being able to scale can make or break a brand.

As the founder of all-natural sports drink business Amara, increasing distribution and expanding to new regions is something I am constantly thinking about and asking for advice on.

At a beverage industry conference, I was talking to a fellow entrepreneur about growing, when he responded with something that caught me off guard. "Never burn bridges," he said.

At first this statement seemed like a given -- that was until he added context. He explained how his beer business had expanded quickly into 12 states after having several regional beer distributors express interest in his brand.

Related: How Should Entrepreneurs Plan to Scale Their Businesses?

Hiring enough personnel and additional sales employees to cover all the new regions would have greatly increased his labor costs, so he held off. Subsequently, his products did not turn fast enough on the shelves, the retailers discontinued them and so did the distributors.

Even though he now has grown his business and has enough cash flow to support the required employees, those distributors and retailers will no longer take meetings or return his calls. He lost his chance, those bridges had been burned.

Of all the lessons I have learned this is the most important: Do not grow unless you are prepared to handle it. At Amara's office in Berkeley, Calif., we receive calls and emails on a regular basis from distributors in different states wanting to buy drinks from us. In most of these cases we have decided to hold off on expansion, because we can't support them with sales and marketing teams on the ground.

Yes, you read that right -- a startup company turned down cash to make sure their brand gets the proper support. But in the beverage industry, like many other markets, we are for the most part a marketing organization. Because, we can't talk to every individual about Amara, we rely on branding, sampling and messaging. If we mess this up, it could be detrimental to our future's brand.

Related: Richard Branson's Tips for Growing Your Small Business

Remember that when you expand you must do it at a manageable speed, so you can support your product with marketing campaigns, boots on the ground and the proper support for your partners. If you are thinking of scaling your business, make sure you keep these points in mind:

Expand intelligently. From expanding to a new geographic region or rolling out new features to appeal to more customers, make sure you have resources in place. If you don't have the cash flow to support sales and marketing efforts, hold off until you do.

Think about your reputation. Your brand reputation matters to every person that touches your product. From your supply chain partners to your end customers, you need to provide support. If you don't, you could tarnish the relationship and your brand's image.

Do industry research. The distribution model for a software company and a beverage company are completely different. What works in one industry, won't work in another. Make sure you study what similar companies have done. Talk to advisors and experts and do research on the internet, before you decide to expand your product line.

What other advice do you have for growing your business? Let us know in the comments below.

Greg Connolly is the founder of the Berkeley, Calif.-based health-drink maker Amara Beverage Company. Amara is made with coffee berry, the red fruit that grows on coffee plants, found predominantly in natural-food stores like Whole Foods. The company makes a fruit-based sports drink designed for the rapidly growing fitness segment CrossFit.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

Here's When the New Apple iPhone 17 and MacBooks Are Being Released

Apple also has a home device in the works. Here's when to expect a new lineup of Apple products.

Growing a Business

The Best Domains Are Gone — But Here's How Savvy Founders Still Snag Them

Why do so many founders fail to land premium domains? Because the best ones are already taken, priced sky-high and nearly impossible to secure — unless you know how to play the game.

Business Ideas

What My First Failed Startup Taught Me — and How I Finally Got It Right 20 Years Later

Launching a startup two decades after a failed first attempt brought clarity, humility, and a deeper understanding of what it really takes to build a sustainable business.

Business News

Here's How Much Google Software Engineers, Product Managers, and Data Scientists Make in a Year

Data revealed in federal filings shows how much Google is compensating its employees.

Leadership

How to Recover from a Bad Business Decision (and Rebuild Trust)

When you're the one calling the shots, you're going to get things wrong now and then. Thankfully, getting it wrong can be just as instructive as getting it right.

Health & Wellness

Nobody Was Talking About Nasal Breathing for Sleep Until This Former NFL Player Built a Brand Around It: 'You Feel So Much Better'

Todd Anderson had no entrepreneurial experience, but he had a nose for a good business idea.