Lessons From The 7% Club
Only 7% of Australian businesses ever reach $2 million in revenue.
That’s the insight that gives Jenny Stilwell’s book, The 7% Club, its name and for any business owner who’s made it past the startup stage, it should be both motivating and a little uncomfortable.
If you’re a business owner sitting somewhere between $1 million and $2 million in annual revenue, you’re not alone in feeling stuck. You’ve built something successful, but now growth feels harder, messier, and less certain than it used to. This is the exact phase where many businesses get stuck and stay stuck for years.
Having recently read The 7% Club, I wanted to share some of the most powerful lessons from the book, and how they align with what I see every day in businesses I support as a Virtual CFO.
1. You Can’t Scale What You Don’t Measure
Stilwell highlights that businesses in this middle stage are often still founder-led in all areas - sales, finances, operations, people management. The founder is often the decision-maker and the doer, which can work well… until it doesn’t.
One of the key themes from the book is that what gets measured gets managed and without financial oversight, scaling becomes guesswork.
Our take: At this stage, it’s no longer enough to only look at the bank balance or revenue line. You need strategic plans, margin analysis, and cash flow forecasting. The difference between a $1M business and a $5M business often lies in the founder’s ability to step back and lead with data.
2. The Founder Bottleneck Is Real
Stilwell describes the “founder bottleneck” as one of the biggest obstacles to growth. It happens when decisions can’t be made without the owner, and systems still rely heavily on their personal knowledge, relationships and involvement.
Our take: From a financial perspective, this creates risk. If the business can’t run without the founder, it’s difficult to attract buyers, raise capital, or scale sustainably. Bringing in external expertise, whether that’s a CFO, Operations Manager, or trusted advisors, helps shift the founder out of the day-to-day tasks and into a CEO mindset.
3. Growth Requires a Team You Can Rely On
One of the most practical insights in The 7% Club is around team building. Businesses at this level often have a few key team members but lack a true leadership team. Roles and responsibilities are often unclear, and recruitment is reactive rather than strategic.
Our take: Growth puts pressure on every part of your business, but especially your people. Making the right hires (and letting go of the wrong ones) can make or break your ability to scale. From a financial lens, your team is also one of your biggest cost lines, so it’s essential to match team investment with growth strategy and profitability goals.
4. Structure, Systems and Strategy Are Non-Negotiable
Early success often comes from hustle, agility, and fast decision-making. But once you hit seven figures, that model starts to fray. Stilwell advocates for proper systems and processes as the foundation for sustainable growth.
Our take: Your financial systems are just as important as your operational ones. Are you reporting by business unit or product line? Do you know your breakeven point? Have you set KPIs and tracked them consistently? These aren’t “nice-to-haves”, they’re what give you the confidence to make big moves without putting the business at risk.
5. You Have to Think Beyond Today
One of the final (and most important) lessons in The 7% Club is to shift from short-term thinking to long-term value creation. That means making decisions that improve your business’s valuation, even if you’re not planning to sell.
Our take: Too many business owners only start thinking about exit when they’re already exhausted. But building a sale-ready business is good practice, even if you don’t intend to exit soon. It forces you to reduce reliance on the founder, improve reporting, build recurring revenue, and clarify your value proposition, all of which make the business stronger and more profitable in the meantime.
Final Thoughts
The 7% Club offers a valuable roadmap for business owners who have proven their concept, found their market, and built something real but now need to evolve how they lead, plan, and grow.
If your business is hovering near or above the $1M mark and you're wondering how to reach that next level, you're not alone, but you do need to make different decisions than you did in the early days.
And one of those decisions might be getting the right strategic expertise around you. Financial strategy isn’t just about cutting costs or filing tax returns. It’s about making smarter decisions, reducing risk, and helping you scale with clarity.
Need support to break through your next ceiling?
At Olive Business Partners, we work with ambitious founders to turn financial complexity into clarity so you can scale with confidence. Let’s talk!