Even during the best of times, starting a small business is tough. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it became a quest for survival. While&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/america-united-states-covid-small-businesses-economics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">roughly one-third of small businesses</a>&nbsp;were closed amid the lockdowns, many have reopened their doors or launched anew as consumer demand roars back.



Each of the 31.7 million small businesses in the U.S. has its own unique flavor, challenges and path to success. Some never expand beyond a single founder; others could scale to become the next unicorn. Along the way, many founders will face common sets of challenges as they reach new levels of success.



For that reason, we’ve decided to bring you some real-life examples that illustrate the five stages of small business growth: existence, survival, success, take-off and resource maturity.



We didn’t invent this model—it was&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">developed by</a>&nbsp;researchers Neil C. Churchill and Virginia L. Lewis in 1983. Our goal is to bring each stage to life and start a conversation around the opportunities and experiences that business leaders encounter.



Every day this week, we’ll bring you insights from our contributors on each stage of growth. Today, we start at the beginning: the initial stage of launching a business and figuring out everything from product fit to customer acquisition.



Stage 1: Existence



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishacharya/2021/08/02/move-your-ideas-from-lab-to-market-to-maximize-impact/">Idea validation and commercialization of research</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbevis/2021/08/02/how-to-determine-market-fit/">Product market fit</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomtaulli/2021/08/02/agile-taking-your-small-business-to-the-next-level/">Being agile</a>



Stage 2: Survival



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2021/08/03/survival-of-the-nicest-customer-service-as-a-business-growth-and-survival-engine/">Customer service and building customer loyalty</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abdoriani/2021/08/03/is-sacrificing-profitability-in-favor-of-growth-a-good-idea-for-all-startups/">Profitability and growth</a>



Stage 3: Success



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianscudamore/2021/08/04/every-entrepreneur-comes-to-this-fork-in-the-road-heres-how-to-decide-your-path/">The founders dilemma</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abdoriani/2021/08/04/5-ways-to-incentivize-word-of-mouth/">Incentivizing word of mouth</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jodiecook/2021/08/04/securing-funding-to-drive-expansion/">Securing funding for expansion</a>



Stage 4: Take-off



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewfilev/2021/08/05/3-keys-to-successfully-scale-your-organization-from-small-biz-to-big-time/">Scaling operations</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisacurtis/2021/08/05/three-things-everyone-does-wrong-when-hiring/">Hiring and growth</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rochellemclarke/2021/08/05/for-successful-small-businesses-resilience-is-a-strategy-not-an-option/">Resilience, business continuity and contingency planning</a>



Stage 5: Resource Maturity



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2021/08/06/has-your-company-lost-its-customer-service-mojo-7-ways-to-make-customers-love-you-again/">Maintaining customer service while scaling</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/moiravetter/2021/08/06/the-future-of-marketing-is-lean-for-businesses-big-and-small/">Lean marketing for businesses</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2021/08/06/how-99-of-unicorn-entrepreneurs-plug-vc-holes-with-reverse-vc/">Unicorn entrepreneurs and financing</a>



By Maneet Ahuja, Forbes Staff

Tag: SMMEs

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Insights On The Five Stages Of Small Business Growth