Scaling From PMF to $100M. The Equation Behind Every Unicorn.

Scaling is chaotic for all of us.

It affects our emotions, our budget, and our time. Most of the time, it even impacts our personal lives.

After advising 200+ startups, I noticed that we have all struggled with it.

For the past 7 years, I’ve been trying to find the answer to the following questions:

Why is scaling so difficult? Why is it so chaotic? And most importantly, is it possible to ease the process?
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One of my biggest strengths is creating systems and recognizing patterns.

So in this article, I’ll share with you one of the best lessons I've accumulated throughout my career.
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I’ll share the framework that has helped my clients scale to $100M and exit their company.

What No One Tells You Before You Scale

The insights I’ll explain here describe the go-to-market dynamics behind the growth curve that you can see below, which we’re hoping to create.

I’m distilling hours of conversations that have made my startup clients excited about building a cash flow machine.

Whether you have passed the inflection point already or not, this article will bring clarity around the dynamics of how scaling works.

More than anything, it’ll help you set a vision for your team, get them to understand how this works, and get them driven by the bigger picture.

So I’m extremely excited to share this as I know it can change your life as a founder and the life of your team.

So let’s get started!

Why Scaling Your Startup Feels Chaotic. And How to Fix It?

If you passed $1M ARR, you probably found PMF. Now the goal is $100M.

But getting there requires a shift.

It reminds me of the following quote:

If you keep doing what you do you’ll only get more of what you already have. It take change to get change.

The thing is that at this stage, you’ve probably tried new channels, hired for different marketing roles, and copied what competitors do. And yet, things still feel unclear.

If you’ve gone through that process, you’ve probably questioned your life, your business, and even your expertise a few times.

And like many of my startup partners, eventually, you realize that you cannot let the world dictate how to make your marketing strategy work. It should be rooted in your company, your vision.

Which also reminds me of the following quotes from exceptional CEOs.

“The number one job of a CEO is to set the vision and make sure everyone is aligned with it.”

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz
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“You have to be the chief evangelist of your own company.”

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder
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“A leader’s job is to look into the future and see the organization not as it is, but as it should be.”

Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
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“The CEO’s job is to tell a compelling story again and again until the market believes it.”

Alex Hormozi

It’s not about a single channel or the next hack, but rather about the vision and strategy.

So let’s get clarity on the direction we need to set to make ‘everything’ work.

The Fundamentals of Scaling

The scaling system

If we’re setting the goal of $100M ARR, we’ll need to convince plenty of people to buy, right?

Until now, nothing surprising.

Now, do you think that your audience would buy if they saw your brand everywhere and clearly understood how you solve their problem?

If you said yes, that means that the root of the problem lies in:

1. Building a bunch of assets (ad creatives, landing pages, website, social media pages, industry reports, etc.) that reflect your brand and message, and allow you to connect with your target audience.
2. Once you have these assets, we need to make sure that the target audience sees them consistently everywhere they go. For that, we’d need to distribute them wherever the target audience hangs out. That’s how we can be omnipresent.

Is there any other way to get to $100M ARR?

To the extent of my knowledge, not really. I haven’t seen any successful company adopting significantly different approaches. But I’ve seen many unsuccessful ones not adopting this approach.

The equation of scale

So here’s the equation to scale:

Scale = (Brand-aligned assets x Omnipresent distribution) ^ Consistency

Brand-aligned assets multiplied by omnipresent distribution at the power of consistency will get us to scale. Extremely fast.

If you like math, like I do, you probably already know that that equation translates into the following growth curve.

In simple terms, the more assets you have and the more places you show up, the faster you scale.
But only if you stay consistent.

Let’s assume that you stay consistent for 2 years (24 months). So let’s do the math for that:

• If you have many great assets but only post once… no one sees them. So you won’t get any traction.
• This is equivalent to: (100 x 0)^24 = 0
• If you post a single asset everywhere. One single asset may get someone interested, but 99% of people won’t trust your company enough yet.
• This is equivalent to: (0.01 x 100)^24 = 1
• Now, if you have many brand-aligned assets (ad creatives, landing pages, website, social media pages, industry reports, etc.), and distribute them across many channels (ads, blog, LinkedIn, webinars, events, etc.), people start noticing. Trust would be built with the variety of assets. Demand would grow with the variety of channels.
• This is equivalent to: (100 × 100)^24 = 10^(96) = A massive number
• However, if you only do this for a month, you can get results, but the momentum will die fast. This is equivalent to: (100 × 100) ^ 1 = 10,000
• But if you do it for a decade, your market will know you. Trust you. And buy from you.

So here’s the lesson:

Assets × Distribution = Visibility
Consistency = Market domination

‍That’s how you scale. Fast.

Now, let’s dive into the 3 parts of the scaling equation and how to build a growth machine based on it.

Step 1: Create brand-aligned assets

Since this is of utmost importance, let’s explore it more deeply.

‍What do I mean by ‘brand-aligned assets’?

‍I mean assets like websites, ads, social posts, decks that all tell the same story.
They’re instantly recognizable, emotionally resonant, and strategically consistent.

Why is it important?
Because:

• If your message isn’t clear, people won’t understand it and connect with you.
• If your assets aren’t aligned, they won’t remember you. Or worse, they’ll feel confused.

That’s why great brand assets are built from the inside.

Here’s how to make it work:

1. The founder sets the vision. This is where emotional resonance starts. Without vision, there’s no connection.
2. The CMO + Creative Director shape the brand. They translate the vision into positioning and identity. They ensure clarity, consistency, and memorability.
3. The designers, copywriters, and developers create the assets. They bring the brand to life: visually, verbally, and interactively.

Without alignment at every level, assets become noise.
With it, they become brand power.

So here’s the brand-aligned assets equation:
Brand-aligned assets = Vision + Positioning & Branding + Assets & Products

Step 2: Build omnipresent distribution

The equation for omnipresent distribution is simple.
It just means showing up wherever your audience spends time.

But the key is alignment across all channels and choosing the right ones (where your audience actually hangs out).

Omnipresent Distribution = Distributing assets in relevant channels (e.g. Ads + Email + Social + Community + Events)

It’s not about being everywhere. It’s about being everywhere that matters.

To make it work, you need:

1. A CMO or fractional CMO to craft the strategy.
2. Skilled marketers to execute across each channel.

Step 3: Create consistency

This is extremely important since this is where your equation takes power. This is truly what ‘scale’ means.

To stay consistent with your brand-aligned assets and omnipresent distribution, you need two things:
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1. Strategic clarity. Led by a CMO or Creative Director who defines the message, brand, and system.
2. Flawless execution. Done by designers and marketers who turn strategy into posts, visuals, landing pages, and channel management.

This is where the power of scaling happens.

‍Consistency = Team Execution × System Optimization

The CMO and Creative Director refine the system.
The CEO ensures it all aligns with the vision.
The team delivers day in, day out.

This is the key to success. This is why your team, your freelancers, and anyone you hire are of utmost importance!!!

So please, for the health and sustainability of your company, don’t hire mediocre people 🙏🏼
Because otherwise, they’ll mess up with the power part of your equation.

If It’s That Simple, Why Is There Still So Much Struggle?

Great question. If the direction is now so clear, why do most startups still struggle to scale?

I came to realize that whenever something doesn’t work, it’s either a lack of knowledge or a lack of execution.

Confusion = Lack of knowledge OR Lack of execution

The problem is that when that happens, founders usually:

1. Don’t ask for help
2. Don’t have the budget to get help
3. Don’t trust the person offering help
4. Don’t have time to find the right help

By now, you probably know you need help building a system that scales. And that people will define how fast you’ll scale.

However, budget, trust, and time are certainly still in your way.

That’s why I built 2 solutions to help you with that.

Need clarity?

Get early access to the Startup Mentorship Program at Team&Tonic, giving you direct access to incredible startup CMOs and Creative Directors for just $50/month (only during beta!).

They’ll audit your actions, bring clarity, and help you design a growth system that actually works.

That price is a total steal to get access to incredibly talented people who have helped startups day in, day out.

So there’s no excuse not to get clarity on the actual activities you’ll need to execute.

Ready to execute?

Once you get clarity on the way to scale. You now need to execute.
That’s why I built Team&Tonic to help you work with the top 0.8% of freelance designers and marketers without wasting weeks of recruiting.

You get the perfect freelancer in 72 hours, and can get started for as little as 5 hours of work.
We’ve also built plug-and-play packages to launch your brand, website, or campaigns.

Now, there’s no excuse for not getting brand-aligned assets and being omnipresent.

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I built Team&Tonic because I know how hard it is to get clarity and momentum.

Team&Tonic gives you both.

Scaling to $100M should be a process, not a struggle.