Second Stage

Unlike startups, second-stage companies are no longer concerned about survival. And in contrast to small businesses and lifestyle entrepreneurs, second-stagers are significant job creators and many have established national and global markets that bring outside dollars into their communities.

Second stage is a critical time because these entrepreneurs face an entirely new set of challenges. What made them successful during startup won’t necessarily drive future growth. We’re continually innovating new programs and tools to help them scale.

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Defined

The Significance of Second Stage

Second-stage companies are those that have grown past the startup stage but have not yet grown to maturity. They have enough employees to exceed the comfortable control span of one owner/CEO and benefit from adding professional managers, but they may not have a full-scale professional management team.

A business typically begins to enter its second stage when it approaches $1 million in total receipts. The transition process may continue until it hits $100 million in receipts, although for most companies $50 million represents the upper limit of second stage. By $100 million, a firm will have to be professionally managed in order to continue to thrive and grow and be in its third stage of development. Employee numbers and revenue ranges vary by industry, but the population of firms with 10 to 100 employees and/or $750,000 to $50 million in receipts includes the vast majority of second-stage companies.