Most businesses don't fail because they lack customers — they fail because their internal systems weren't built to handle the customers they got. Nicholas Mukhtar, founder of Fort Lauderdale-based management consulting firm Tera Strategies, presents five prerequisites that must be in place before a company attempts to grow: infrastructure designed for 10x current volume, clear decision ownership at every level, operations treated as a competitive advantage rather than a cost center, external advisory relationships established before a crisis hits, and the discipline to reject opportunities that dilute focus. The framework draws on Mukhtar's background founding Healthy Detroit — which reached a $15 million annual budget and was named the American Public Health Association's National Public Health Organization of the Year in 2017 — and his current consulting work with CEOs and family offices.
