AJF Growth Consultants

TL;DR: Scaling Service Platforms at a Glance

Many platforms stall at $20M–$30M because growth depends on people, not systems. The leap to $100M requires disciplined operating playbooks—not just more effort.

The Five Pillars—Customer Acquisition, Sales Execution, Operational Excellence, Tech Enablement, and White Glove CX—create repeatable growth.

Consistent execution across these pillars builds not just revenue, but exit-ready multiple expansion.

Recruiting, training, and leadership discipline hold it all together.

Why Platforms Stall

Strong companies often stall at $20M–$30M. Sales rely on a few heroes. Recruiting lags. Training is informal. Customer experience varies.

None of this is failure—it's a signal the business is ready for discipline. The danger is that leadership mistakes stamina for scale, pushing harder without building systems.

Without systems, growth slows and multiples compress. Revenue plateaus become harder to break, customer churn increases, and investors start to view the company as a maintenance play rather than a growth platform.

That leaves money on the table and erodes exit potential. HBR's classic analysis "When Growth Stalls" shows how execution gaps—especially in leadership, process, and customer retention—derail scaling.

The Five Pillars of Scaling a Platform

Each pillar is more than a heading—it's an investor signal. Platforms that neglect even one often plateau. PE diligence now weighs these five areas heavily, making them the difference between a strong business and an exit-ready platform.

1. Customer Acquisition

Growth demands a predictable demand engine with controlled cost per lead. Without this, acquisition costs climb and growth slows.

The companies that win at scale track CAC vs. LTV rigorously and diversify channels early, building resilience into their demand engine.

2. Sales Execution

Sales must shift from individual stars to repeatable playbooks. Recruiting, onboarding, and training ensure results scale beyond a few people.

Platforms that reach $100M measure conversion consistency branch to branch, not just top-line growth. See our Pelican Water Case Study.

3. Operational Excellence

Margins expand when waste is removed and installs, service, and supply chains are standardized. The difference between 15% EBITDA and 20%+ is usually discipline in materials, scheduling, and accountability.

Investors reward this operational discipline with higher multiples.

4. Tech Enablement

Platforms like ServiceTitan or Jobber, combined with CRM data discipline, provide visibility across branches and speed integration of acquisitions.

Clean data and shared dashboards aren't just nice-to-haves—they're what let PE see through to branch-level performance. See our Tech Enablement Position Paper.

5. White Glove CX

Customer experience is the moat. Five-star reviews, referral velocity, and loyalty rates are now weighted as heavily as margins in diligence.

Our White Glove CX Position Paper details how disciplined CX multiplies value.

The Scaling Checklist

To ensure the pillars aren't just theory, ask:

Customer Acquisition

Are we generating leads at a sustainable cost across multiple channels, with CAC tracked against lifetime value benchmarks?

Sales Execution

Can new sales hires hit quota in 90 days using a documented playbook, not individual heroics?

Operational Excellence

Do we track and improve install quality, service follow-through, and supply chain efficiency in a way that expands margins?

Tech Enablement

Do our systems provide branch-level visibility, data integrity, and integration speed that an investor would consider "platform grade"?

White Glove CX

Are customers leaving consistent five-star reviews, referring friends, and returning for repeat services at rates that signal loyalty and retention?

If you can answer "yes" to all five, your business isn't just growing—it's meeting the benchmarks investors associate with scalable, exit-ready platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do service platforms stall around $20M–$30M?

Because growth still depends on individuals, not systems. Recruiting, training, and CX aren't disciplined. This erodes margins and compresses multiples. McKinsey reports fewer than 30% of large-scale transformations succeed.

What separates a $100M platform from a strong but stalled company?

Discipline across the Five Pillars: predictable demand, playbook-driven sales, tight operations, scalable tech, and CX that multiplies referrals. Investors view those as the markers of an exit-ready platform.

How should we think about tech?

As the operating backbone. Field service platforms like ServiceTitan or Jobber, paired with clean CRM data, turn chaos into visibility and make results repeatable. This accelerates integration after M&A and builds the transparency PE requires.

Is the push to $100M really worth it?

At scale, platforms often skip the entry-level PE rung, capturing better multiples. EY confirms operational discipline is now a top driver of PE value creation. For operators, that means real wealth creation—not just more revenue.

The difference between a $30M plateau and $100M+ exit isn't just revenue—it's the systematic discipline that commands premium valuations.

Where do we start?

Measure each pillar, fix bottlenecks, and document what works into playbooks your team can run without you. Discipline today is what earns premium value tomorrow.

Scaling a Services Platform: Five Pillars to $100M