Scale to $1 Billion with a growth mindset

Global founder and investor Linda Jenkinson shares the mindset and mechanics behind building at a  billion-dollar scale. From a farm in Manawatū to listing on Nasdaq, she maps how to choose big markets, design disruptive models, and run a growth company with discipline and intent. The goal: help Kiwi founders think and operate beyond the SME ceiling.

Key themes include:

1. SME vs Growth vs Corporate: choose your operating model
   “A growth company is like a kauri - you build deep roots early so it can grow huge.”SMEs optimise for income and founder bandwidth; corporates optimise for process. Growth companies balance foundations with speed, by design.

2. Start with the billion and build backwards
   Don’t default to “30–40m.” Define your billion dollar aspiration, then map the math: markets, cities, customers, teams  and unit economics required to get there. Select markets based on data, including size, structure and competition.

3. Find the disruptive model (and a network effect)
   Kiwi Express case study: replacing dispatcher command-and-control with a “free call” marketplace dramatically increased productivity, improved earnings, collapsed customer service load, and created a natural network effect. “We spent years at the coalface to discover our special sauce - then scaled it.”

4. Make it inevitable
   Your belief powers recruiting, investors, acquisitions and customer wins. Sell momentum: every update shows what you said you’d do, what you did, and what’s next. “Make people feel the train is leaving.”

5. Exponential growth is a discipline
   Choose one core growth metric (revenue, active customers, bookings) and keep the whole team focused on the single most important constraint to move that metric.

6. Go global by design (and get the right board)
   Use a global advisory board and growth-company governance. Map where you win (US-only, multi-country, or many-city strategy) and sequence entry to fit your model and resources.

Key takeaways:

• Write the billion-down plan: quantify the pathway (markets, units, margins) before you start.

• Prove your edge: spend time with customers and ops to discover a scalable model (ideally with network effects).

• Pick a core growth metric and compound it: align goals, cadence, and priorities to that number.

• Upgrade your governance: build a global advisory board and a growth-focused operating rhythm.

• Think (and hire) bigger: act like a growth company, lay foundations early with talent that’s scaled before, and a narrative investors can’t ignore.

Hit play to watch the complete walkthrough and real-world tips.