Stage 5 of the Unavoidable Stages of Development is about optimizing what you’ve built—scaling smarter, evolving systems, and ensuring your company remains agile, valuable, and ready for what's next.
You’ve built it. You’ve scaled it. Now comes the highest level of leadership: planning your Exit.
In The 90 Way, Stage 5 companies focus on continuous improvement, leadership leverage, cultural depth, and long-term enterprise value. This isn’t a stage of coasting. It’s a stage of refinement—of strengthening systems, deepening alignment, and developing the organization’s ability to thrive without burning out its people or eroding its purpose.
Whether you’re preparing for exit, expansion, or simply a more resilient next chapter, Stage 5 is about intentionality: better meetings, smarter metrics, sharper strategy, and enduring culture.
Stage 5 companies don’t settle for growth—they pursue greatness.
Overview
Without evolving in Stage 5, even successful companies face:
Execution fatigue, as once-effective systems become bloated or outdated
Cultural drift, if growth has outpaced reinforcement of core values
Leadership ceiling, where the same people are still solving the same problems
Missed innovation, as scaling displaces strategic curiosity
Unfocused expansion, without clarity on what comes next
Exit unpreparedness, with fragile systems or owner dependence still in play
The 90 Way addresses these issues by:
Revisiting and evolving strategy and structure with fresh perspective
Auditing and optimizing systems for performance and simplicity
Investing in leadership development, succession, and talent pipelines
Strengthening culture through rituals, coaching, and shared ownership
Exploring expansion, exit, or platform models—on your terms
Balancing operational excellence with long-term vision stewardship
The best Stage 5 companies are elite—not because they do more, but because they optimize better.
What Stage of Development is your business currently in?
