Inside Zartico’s Decision to Slow Down Growth: When to Prioritize Foundation Over Scale
The hardest decisions in startups often involve turning down immediate opportunities for long-term gain. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Zartico CEO Sarah Lehman shared why her team deliberately slowed their explosive growth to build a stronger foundation.
The Growth Paradox
After launching in 2020, Zartico experienced rapid expansion, “growing more than doubling each year,” Sarah recalls. But with this hypergrowth came operational challenges that threatened their ability to deliver consistent value to customers.
Recognizing the Warning Signs
The clearest indicator was their implementation process. “The biggest Achilles heel, I think, for most startups is getting that implementation process right,” Sarah explains. Zartico’s implementation times had stretched to 120 days – a clear sign their operational foundation needed attention.
Making the Hard Call
“We have intentionally slowed down this year so that we can right size some of our processes,” Sarah shares. “Because as you can imagine, as a startup, you grow quite fast. Your processes, your people and systems don’t necessarily keep up with you.”
This wasn’t an easy decision. “When the customers are there waiting and the opportunity is right ahead of you to intentionally say, you know what, we’re going to edit down our ambition to ensure that we have the infrastructure in place, our tech stack is right and the experience is what we expect. Yeah, that’s hard to do.”
The Long-Term Vision
What made the decision possible was their commitment to building something lasting. “We are building a company that is going to be, and we believe, a sustainable, everlasting legacy. And we’re dependent on word of mouth as our primary marketing tool. And so we need to ensure that our customers are happy and delighted.”
Focusing on Foundation
The team identified key areas needing attention:
- Implementation processes
- Technical infrastructure
- Customer experience
- Operational systems
The results validated their decision. “Now we have some customers that go live within 24 hours and our biggest enterprise customers are between 30 and 45 days,” Sarah notes, a dramatic improvement from their previous 120-day timeline.
Building for Multi-Vertical Expansion
This foundation-building wasn’t just about current operations – it was preparation for ambitious expansion. “You can imagine a world where we work with these small businesses that also benefit from the visitor economy. You can imagine a world where we work with the sporting events and stadiums within that destination,” Sarah shares.
The Role of Investment Partners
Having the right investors made this strategic pause possible. “I believe your cap table is your soul,” Sarah explains. “I wanted to ensure that anyone we brought in as an investor, was aligned with who we are and where we wanted to go.” This alignment allowed them to prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term growth.
For B2B founders facing similar decisions, Zartico’s experience offers several key insights:
- Watch your operational metrics closely – they often signal when it’s time to slow down
- Align your investors early on the possibility of strategic pauses
- Focus on specific, measurable improvements during the slowdown
- Keep your team focused on the long-term vision
- Use customer experience metrics to validate your decision
As Sarah summarizes: “Turning down opportunity as an entrepreneur, I mean, come on, that’s like one of the hardest things ever.” But sometimes the bravest strategic decision is choosing to grow more slowly today to grow more sustainably tomorrow.
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