5. Know yourself

Most successful businesses develop a strong sense of identity early in their lives. As founders and leaders, your actions and decisions will have a huge impact on your organisation's identity.

Think about what you want this sense of identity to be about. Think about how it will be influenced by what you do and what you say. And think about what you want to preserve, and what you want to change, as your company grows. One of the challenges of growth will be to maintain what really matters in the company's identity. It's unlikely you will get the right outcome by chance.