Most new businesses that fail do so during the transition from start-up to the growth phase. Here's a much-needed book that can dramatically increase your odds of succeeding during the toughest and most critical stage of any new venture. Written by the best-selling author of The McGraw-Hill Guide to Starting Your Own Business, this new guide constitutes a complete field manual for entrepreneurs looking to transform their small businesses into exceptional enterprises. In 20 concise, reader-friendly chapters - each one addressed to a vital growth-related issue - you'll find step-by-step plans and blueprints to follow, proven answers to tough, real-life questions, and valuable tips from forty entrepreneurs and managers who have survived the minefields of high-growth ventures.You'll learn why growth does not simply mean doing "more of the same" on a larger scale; what kinds of challenges you're likely to face during each phase of the growth process, and how to begin preparing for them today; the difference between uncontrolled growth (which can actually jeopardize your firm's very existence) and sustained growth, which is the kind of growth savvy entrepreneurs seek; the secrets of perceptive timing, both in entering and exiting markets; how to go beyond conventional, or incremental, growth strategies with "corpreneurial" strategies designed to keep your company on the cutting edge of change; how to develop a long-term vision of what you want your company to become; and how to master seven key stages of venture evolution and perfect the particular managerial skills needed for each stage.The Guide explores growth strategies for every area of your company, including capitalizing on the firm's human resources; developing an effective management information system; establishing strategic alliances; utilizing the board of directors to maximum effect; and much more.Each chapter concludes with a "Chief Executive Guidelines" section, in which two or more successful CEOs - many who have been profiled in Inc., Business Week, Fortune, and Nation's Business - share their valuable insights and explain how various approaches have worked for them in today's increasingly competitive environment. With the help of this book, your company will be better positioned to create the kind of sustained growth that will make it one of tomorrow's corporate winners. Read Less