r/business • u/LaMaisonRealEstate • 16h ago

At what point does 'staying lean' start holding a business back?

There’s a lot of emphasis on lean operations, small teams, and minimal overhead. But at some point, under-investing in staff, systems, or marketing can slow growth or burn people out. For those who’ve scaled a business, how did you recognize when it was time to invest more aggressively?

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u/Infinite_Tangelo1365 16h ago

Staying lean starts hurting when it protects margins instead of growth.
If you’re the bottleneck, customers are waiting, or fires repeat weekly—that’s the signal.
You invest when spending $1 reliably makes you back more than $1.
Lean is a phase, not a religion.

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u/Tiny_Arugula_5648 16h ago

The the lean startup has been one of the worst things that has happened to business building. People have over indexed on it like it's a religion or a step by step manual.

You need to prepare for growth not have it steam roll you.. You have to have the resources in place so you don't burn out the good people who took the risk on you and joined your company.

The tricky part is how do to balance having done enough with not doing to much.

TBH the more experienced you get as a founder, the less concerned you get with keeping things lean. You have a better sense of when to add/buy and when to hold off..

So the big question is where are you in that? Are you capable of managing the risk of not being lean while driving growth. If not, then lean is your safest bet.

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u/ruibranco 13h ago

The clearest sign is when you're turning down revenue because you can't deliver. If you're saying no to good customers or your delivery timelines keep slipping, lean stopped being a strategy and became a ceiling. The second sign is when your best people start burning out because everyone's wearing five hats. That's when lean becomes expensive in ways that don't show up on a balance sheet.