The lifecycle of a company

Marjorie Rosenberg
Teaching notes
Aims

Tasks
be able to analyse business
thinking in growing organisations
be able to discuss the business
philosophy of an entrepreneur
be able to predict what will be
said in a video clip
understand and analyse a video
clip
be able to work as a group to
come up with a plan for an
organization from its start-up
through its first fifteen years
be able to present your results

discuss how companies change as

they grow
match heads and tails of
sentences together
talk about the business philosophy
expressed in sentences
predict, watch and discuss a video
clip on the lifecycle of a company
imagine a start-up company and
how it will change over time
present the differences in a
company between its first year and
its fifteenth year

This activity can be used as a stand-alone activity or used together with

Business Advantage Intermediate, Almut Koester, Angela Pitt, Michael
Handford, Martin Lisboa, Unit 5.
Level
Intermediate (B1)
Timing
50 minutes without the follow-up activity
This should include the discussions, checking the answers, watching the
video, the group work and the mini-presentations.
Lead-in (5 minutes)
Students work with a partner and answer questions about how companies
and the roles of those working for them change over time.
Heads and tails (5 minutes)
Students match heads and tails of phrases used in the video clip together.
Key
1E, 2C, 3A, 4F, 5D, 6H, 7B, 8G
Discussion and predictions (5 minutes)
Before watching a video clip of Sean Neville, CEO and co-founder, Simply
Audiobooks, students talk with a partner about Mr Nevilles business
philosophy based on the phrases they have matched together and give their
own opinions about these statements. They then make three predictions
about what they think they will hear in the clip.

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Watching the video (10 minutes)

Students watch the clip and listen for how the phrases were used. They also
listen to hear if any of their predictions came up. They then report back to the
class on their predictions.
Video transcript
Theres always a general challenge of hiring the people, but the lifecycle of
the business requires different people at different times. So in the first year
and a half, we needed folks who were to some degree Jack of all trades or
people who could roll up their sleeve and get involved into anything from high
level strategy to emptying the garbage. I mean, you need good round people
who love entrepreneurs, but then as the business formalizes you need folks
with narrower expertise and so I think one of challenges that we had, and I
think we did reasonably well although, was adapting the culture to the
lifecycle of the business. So there are some things that dont change such as
were here to have fun and were going to try to grow up the business and it
will be an adventure, but the way we go about it changed in time, and I
realized that we needed different types of people and if there was a part of us
that, if we kept hiring the same sort of entrepreneurial types which was great
but over year two and year three, the business was not the same as it was
years prior and those people still did well in the environment but not as well
because you have to start putting fences around the rules. Like, you know,
youre in marketing and I actually do want you to think holistically about the
business, but you got to stay here in the marketing for the most part and in
the early days it is like there are so many leaks in the stem, if you can plug
anything, just go and plug it, whereas, later in the business, you focus on
here, were plugging these holes over here, you focus on this part and I think
that formalization needs to happen, but its challenging because its a change
and I think for the most part it worked, but it did take time for us to, as a team
to really figure out that we had to change. The great thing about the people
we hired early on first couple of years is that there have been four companies
that have been started by former employees with simply audio books and
those people who did that were people who joined the company in the first
couple of years. In some ways it's a shame we lost these great people to new
businesses, but it also speaks to the fact that a) Were hiring really capable
entrepreneurial types. I think they got a great experience working with us and
through that experience of seeing how a business had grown, they had the
confidence and knew the systems they needed to put in place and start their
own business. So, we really had entrepreneurial types all over the place, but
then later on we could not continue to really hire those hardcore
entrepreneurs all over the place because a) We need continuity. So you dont
want people leaving as much and you really do need to have people focused
on their role.

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Discussion questions (5 minutes)

Students discuss the video clip with their partner and answer specific
questions about it.
Group work and presentations of results (20 minutes)
Students work together in groups of four to six. They decide on a type of
company they would like to start and create a time .line of how the company
will change over the first fifteen years assuming that the company enjoys
healthy growth. They then compare the first and fifteenth years and put
together a mini-presentation which they present to the rest of the class.
Follow-up
Students look for information on how companies change over time. They
should search for fairly new companies and be prepared to talk about their
findings in class.

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The lifecycle of a company

Marjorie Rosenberg
Students worksheets
Aims

Tasks
be able to analyse business
thinking in growing organisations
be able to discuss the business
philosophy of an entrepreneur
be able to predict what will be
said in a video clip
understand and analyse a video
clip
be able to work as a group to
come up with a plan for an
organization from its start-up
through its first fifteen years
be able to present your results

discuss how companies change as

they grow
match heads and tails of
sentences together
talk about the business philosophy
expressed in sentences
predict, watch and discuss a video
clip on the lifecycle of a company
imagine a start-up company and
how it will change over time
present the differences in a
company between its first year and
its fifteenth year

Lead-in
Work with a partner and answer these questions.
What differences do you think there are when companies first start up and
later when they have grown substantially?
How do you think roles within a company change as they grow?
Is there a difference in the type of people who join a start-up and those who
prefer to work in an established company? Can you give any examples of
this?
Heads and tails
You are going to watch a video clip of Sean Neville, CEO and co-founder,
Simply Audiobooks. Before you watch, match the heads and tails together to
make phrases used by Sean Neville in the video clip.
1 the life cycle of the business

A around the rules

2 as the business formalizes you need

B those hardcore entrepreneurial types

3 you have to start putting fences

C folks with narrower expertise

4 it did take time for us to

D but it speaks to the fact that were

hiring really capable entrepreneurial
types

5 its a shame that we lost these great

people to new businesses,

E requires different people at different

times

6 they had the confidence and knew the

systems they needed to put in place

F really figure out that we had to change

7 later on we could not continue to hire

G you really do need to have people

focused on their role

8 you dont want people leaving as much

and

H and start their own business

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Discussion and predictions

These phrases give an insight into Sean Nevilles business philosophy. Discuss them
with a partner. Do you have the same opinion about how companies change as they
grow? Make three predictions about what you think will be discussed in the video
clip.
The video clip
Watch the video clip. Listen to how the phrases were used. Were any of your
predictions mentioned? If so, which ones?
Discussion questions
Work with your partner and discuss these points.
What did Sean say about the people they hired at the beginning? What did he
mean by the expressions Jack of all trades and roll up their sleeves and get
involved in everything?
Why did Sean say that it was necessary to put fences around rules? Do you
agree with him?
What did he mean by saying that at the beginning you had to plug leaks in the
stem? Can you give an example of what he meant?
Why do you think that people left to start their own companies? Do you think
this is a typical example of what happens with companies as they grow?
How did Sean express his opinion of the fact that some of his employees left
to start their own businesses? Would you agree with him?
Group work and presentations of results
Work together in groups of four to six. Decide on a type of company you would like to
start. Come up with a time-line of your first fifteen years in business assuming that
the company has experienced healthy growth. Decide on the types of people you will
need at the beginning and the roles they play. Then begin to look at the differences
as the company starts to grow. Make changes along the way. Finally put together a
small presentation on the differences between the fifteenth year and the first year
and present this to the others.
Follow-up
Look for information on how companies have changed from their beginnings to where
they are at the moment. Look for companies which began within the last fifteen years
and make a note of the interesting information. Be prepared to discuss this in class.

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