Scaling a business

The founder lessons learned

“The founder” is such an enlightening movie from which we can learn a lot about scaling a
business that everyone, entrepreneurs especially, can learn from. Throughout the movie we
can spot infinite things that Ray Kroc did that made him grow up this business from a local
business in San Bernardino, California created by the McDonald brothers in 1940 to an
international multi-billion dollar business with a market cap of 165 billion dollars.
“Now I know what you’re thinking. How the hell does a 52 year old, over-the-hill milkshake
machine salesman build a fast-food empire with 16,000 restaurants, in 50 states, in 5 foreign
countries with an annual revenue of in the neighborhood of 700 million dollars? One word;
PERSISTENCE” Ray Kroc

To start with, persistence is noticeably the most significant feature that made Ray kroc expand
McDonald’s. From the very start we can see how persistent Ray kroc was trying different jobs
unsuccessfully until he reached success. Later on, when he was selling milkshakes and was
advertising them using the follow statement ‘you increase the supply and the demand will
follow’. Even though, all restaurant owners didn’t follow his notion, he was persistent and kept
selling milkshake mixers till one day a client ordered 6 milkshake mixers; the McDonald
brothers. After driving 2,800 kilometers to San Bernardino, he was enthralled with their
concept that matched his supply and demand notion. However, he couldn’t convince them to
open other branches but through insisting he convinced them eventually. Subsequently, as
you watch the film you’ll notice more and more difficulties and obstacles that face him, but he
persists firmly with trying to scale the business up.

Moreover, another thing that was a crucial factor in enlarging the business is selecting the
right partners. Partners should be chosen selectively to add value to the company, not just
contribute their name and money. A strong desire to succeed in life matters more than
experience and wealth. Ray Kroc wanted various franchise owners to follow his
standardization, automation, and disciplinary criteria in order to build up McDonald's. He
began by selecting a few wealthy franchise owners, but soon discovered that they were not
following his instructions. Later, he carefully recruited hardworking middle-class people for
their drive and work ethic. Because these new franchise owners were motivated and prepared
to follow Ray Kroc’s standards, this plan proved to be a big success.

Lastly, thinking big entails pushing the limits of what is possible. It allows for the acceptance of
new difficulties as well as the development of capacities to meet those problems. The
McDonald’s brothers mastered the pay as you go restaurant model but they decided to have
one best in a class restaurant instead of multiple mediocre restaurants; they didn’t think big.
On the other hand , Ray Kroc thought big and with his persistence, he innovated and mastered
the art of business expansion through franchise model and then the leasing model while
maintaining the uniqueness and quality of the original McDonalds restaurant .

All in all these are just a couple of examples about things ray Kroc did in “the founder” o scale
the business up; persistence, is selecting the right partners and thinking big. Nevertheless I’m
sure you’ve noticed a million others as you watched the movie.
By: Lujain Ibrahim
ID: 202101804
Words: 545

Thank you