LibGuides: Entrepreneurship & Startup Accelerator Research Guide: 9. Scaling & Operations

Scaling and Operations

Planning for growth, hiring strategies, operational systems, and maintaining culture as you scale.

Scaling & Operations

Academic Databases
- Business Source Complete (EBSCO) – For HBR case studies on scaling, leadership, and operations.
- ABI/INFORM (ProQuest) – Deep coverage of operations management and growth strategy research.
- Scopus – Tracks citation networks, good for finding the seminal works in scaling operations.
- IEEE Xplore – Especially for scaling in tech/engineering environments (infrastructure, systems).
Government Resources
- U.S. Census Bureau (Business Dynamics Statistics) – Tracks firm births, scaling rates, and employment growth.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS Productivity & Business Operations Data) – For operational efficiency benchmarks.
Key Readings
- Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman & Chris Yeh (Coming Soon) – The playbook on hyper-growth.
Key Web Resources
- Paul Graham’s Essays – Especially on growth and how operations follow product.

Artificial Intelligence

AI’s role: automating repeatable tasks.

Innovation Risk Assessment Prompt:

“Identify the top [3–5] risks involved in launching [new product/service]. Include technical, market, regulatory, and operational risks. Suggest at least one mitigation strategy for each.”

Benchmarking Against Competitors Prompt:

“Compare [product concept] to existing solutions in the market: [list 2–3 known competitors]. Highlight areas of differentiation, cost/value advantage, and potential market positioning opportunities.”

Benchmarking Model Canvas Generation Prompt:

“Create a draft Business Model Canvas for [product or service] targeting [customer segment]. Create 3 concise, practical options for each of the 9 blocks (e.g., Value Propositions, Channels, Revenue Streams, etc.)..”

Source: 2025 David Robertson. InnoNavi Innovation Prompt Templates . Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.