Table of Contents

The Demand

If you are at two and thinking about three, do not ask whether your second location is performing. Ask whether you have built the organizational infrastructure to hold three. The specific test is talent. You already deployed your proven leaders to locations one and two. Who leads location three.

The Work

Current location count:

If you are at two — the leader who ran location two, and how deep the bench behind that leader currently runs:

The named leader who would run location three tomorrow if you signed a lease this week:

The gap between "the person who is next in line" and "a leader who has earned the trust to operate independently of your presence":

The management layer that would need to exist at three units — managers who manage managers — and whether you have it or are one hire away from it:

The financial reporting structure that gives you a simultaneous read on three units — whether it exists, and where the gaps are:

The culture-travel mechanism — how your culture reaches a third building through leaders you are not visiting often enough to catch drift in person:

The honest read on whether you are opening a third location that is under-led:

If under-led — the pipeline work you need to do before the third location is soundly gated, and how long that work takes:

The signal that will tell you the organizational infrastructure is actually ready — not the signal that tells you the money is ready: