Holding a Tiger by the Tail: How to Build on 1600% Growth and Create a Business That Matters
There are moments in business that feel like catching lightning in a bottle. You find a real, urgent problem. You create a brilliant solution. You achieve product-market fit. And then, suddenly, your business explodes. It’s a period of exhilarating, terrifying, non-stop growth. I like to call it "holding a tiger by the tail"—it's thrilling, but you know you need to build a stronger cage, and fast.
This is the incredible position that Craig and Sarah, the founders of Medistays, find themselves in. Having worked in oncology for many years, they witnessed firsthand the immense stress and difficulty patients faced trying to find suitable accommodation near their medical care. They saw a profound human problem and, with incredible determination, built a solution.
And the market responded. With a staggering 1600% growth, Medistays is not just a good idea; it's a vital service that is changing lives.
I recently had the immense pleasure of catching up with Sarah on my podcast. Her story is one of pure Australian grit and innovation. But like all smart founders, she isn't just celebrating the growth; she's strategically planning for it. She came to our conversation with the big, essential questions that every leader of a hyper-growth, purpose-driven business must ask. How do we build a formal framework for our social impact? How do we scale our culture alongside our revenue? How do we build a business that is not just successful, but truly sustainable?
Our conversation was an inspiring deep dive into the architecture of conscious scaling.
Today, inspired by their incredible journey, I want to give you my definitive guide on how to manage hypergrowth and build a business that does good, and does it well.
The Rocket Ship Reality - Your Old Systems Will Break
First, let's acknowledge the reality of 1600% growth. It is phenomenal. It is the dream. It is also incredibly dangerous.
The systems, processes, and mindset that got you from zero to your first hundred customers will absolutely break on the journey to your next ten thousand. You cannot run a rocket ship with the operating manual for a go-kart.
Hypergrowth will expose every single crack in your foundation:
- Your customer service processes will buckle under the volume.
- Your financial tracking, once managed on a simple spreadsheet, will become chaotic.
- Your informal, "family feel" team culture will start to fray as new people join.
- You, the founder, will go from having your hands in everything to feeling like you're losing control.
This is not a sign of failure. It is a predictable and necessary stage of growth. The challenge is not to prevent these things from breaking, but to proactively and intentionally build the new, stronger systems that will carry you through this next chapter. This is what Sarah's questions were all about.
ESG Frameworks - Building the "Soul-Based" Scaffolding for Scale
Sarah’s first question was one of the most strategic a founder can ask today: she asked about building an ESG framework. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. For a long time, this was seen as a "big corporate" issue, a box-ticking exercise.
This is a profound misunderstanding. For a purpose-driven business like Medistays, an ESG framework is not a corporate reporting tool; it is the formal architecture for your soul. It is how you measure, manage, and scale your impact with the same rigor you apply to your financial accounts.
Let's break it down:
S for Social (Your Superpower):
This is the very reason Medistays exists. Right now, their social impact is self-evident. But as they scale, they need to move from anecdotal evidence ("we help people") to hard data. This is about measuring what matters.
- Track your impact metrics: How many room-nights have you facilitated for patients? What is the average financial saving for a family using your service compared to other options? How many regional families have you supported?
- Tell the stories behind the data: These metrics are the "what." The human stories of the families you've helped are the "why." You need both. A powerful annual impact report that combines hard data with compelling, personal stories is one of the most powerful marketing and fundraising assets you can create.
E for Environmental (Your Responsibility):
Even for a platform business, you can have an environmental lens. Can you partner with accommodation providers that have strong sustainability practices? Can you look at your own operational footprint? As you grow, stakeholders—from investors to customers—will increasingly expect you to have a thoughtful answer to this.
G for Governance (Your Scaffolding):
This is the "boring" part that is actually the most critical for managing hypergrowth. Governance is about building the strong, internal scaffolding that prevents the rocket ship from shaking itself apart. This includes:
- A formal board structure: Moving from an informal advisory group to a proper board of directors with diverse skills.
- Robust policies: Clear policies around data privacy, customer service standards, and financial controls.
- Ethical decision-making frameworks: As you grow, you'll face complex decisions. A governance framework ensures these decisions are made with integrity and in alignment with your mission.
Building an ESG framework is not a distraction from growth; it is the very thing that enables sustainable, long-term growth. It proves to investors, partners, and customers that you are building a professional, resilient, and deeply trustworthy organisation.
The Power of Accelerators and Lifelong Learning
Sarah mentioned that Medistays was part of the "Remarkable" accelerator program, which focuses on tech for disability and health. I want to pause on this because it speaks volumes about their mindset.
Even with 1600% growth, they had the humility and the hunger to seek out mentorship and structured learning. This is a hallmark of every great founder I have ever met. They know they don't have all the answers.
An accelerator provides three priceless things:
- A Framework and Accountability: It forces you to stress-test every assumption about your business model in a structured way.
- A Network of Mentors: It gives you access to a "black book" of experienced operators, investors, and specialists you could never reach on your own.
- A Community of Peers: This might be the most valuable part. It connects you with a cohort of other founders who are facing the exact same challenges at the exact same time. The peer support, the shared learnings, and the sense of "we're in this together" is an incredible antidote to the profound loneliness of the founder journey.
Building a Great Workplace - Scaling Your Culture
Sarah's next question was about creating a great workplace. She knows that as the team grows, she can't rely on intuition alone to maintain the passionate, mission-driven culture that has brought them this far.
Your culture is your ultimate scaling engine. A great culture attracts and retains the best talent, fosters innovation, and ensures your team delivers an exceptional customer experience, even when you're not in the room.
- Hire for Mission Alignment: When you hire, technical skills are important, but a deep, personal connection to your "why" is non-negotiable. You can teach skills; you cannot teach passion.
- Communicate the "Why" Relentlessly: In every team meeting, every company-wide email, every project brief, connect the daily tasks back to the bigger mission. Remind your team that they are not just answering emails or coding a feature; they are reducing the stress for a family going through the toughest time of their lives.
- Empower and Trust: As you scale, you have to move from being the "chief doer" to the "chief empowerer." Give your team clear goals, give them the resources they need, and then trust them to get the job done. Micromanagement is the poison that kills a growth culture.
- Create Psychological Safety: Build an environment where it is safe to take risks, to make mistakes, and to speak up with new ideas. The biggest innovations often come from unexpected places, but only if people feel safe enough to share them.
An Inspiring Story of Australian Determination
The story of Medistays is about so much more than a booking platform. It’s a story about empathy, about seeing a problem that others have overlooked, and about having the courage and the tenacity to do something about it. It is a story of turning personal experience and pain into a powerful, positive force for good.
Our full conversation on the podcast is a deep, practical, and inspiring look at the real-world application of these strategies. To hear from a founder who is in the midst of this incredible growth journey, asking such smart and strategic questions, is a lesson for every single person in business.
Purpose is Your Compass in the Chaos of Growth
Managing hypergrowth is one ofthe most exhilarating and demanding challenges in business. It requires a constant evolution from the founder and a commitment to building the systems and structures that can support your ambition.
But for a purpose-driven business like Medistays, you have a secret weapon. Your mission. Your "why."
When you are faced with a difficult strategic choice, your purpose is your compass. When your team is feeling stretched and overwhelmed, your purpose is their fuel. When you are telling your story to the world, your purpose is your most compelling message.
Craig and Sarah are not just building a fast-growing company; they are building a legacy of care and compassion. They are proving that you can, and must, build a business that is both incredibly successful and incredibly human.
