Too many entrepreneurs make the mistake of viewing raising capital as a marker of success. It’s not! You don’t need to raise capital to be successful—for instance, in many situations, raising venture capital isn’t wise. Yes, raising capital can be a smart strategic decision to enable or accelerate growth when the business has a clear opportunity to do so and a strong plan to make it happen. But an outside financing event, of itself, won’t make your business successful.

Importantly, the three main growth strategies lend themselves to different financing strategies. Before we get to that, let’s discuss the growth strategies and their different potential outcomes. Because the details of your business may be nuanced, download this whitepaper to learn each growth strategy with a few quick examples to help you think through which are applicable to your business.