Why You're Building in the Dark If You Don't Have a Challenge Network

Author

Benjamin Friedman
April 29, 2025

Morning beehiivcommunity!

This newsletter turns experience into lessons you can apply to your startup. As a growth partner for visionary founders, we help sharpen leadership skills and unlock growth potential.

Create a Challenge Network to Push You Further

“Surround yourself with people who make you believe you're capable of far more than you think you are. This alone can change your life.”
– Thomas Waschenfelder

Success requires two essential types of people in your life. The first type supports you unconditionally, providing a safety net that builds your resilience. The second type pushes you to excel beyond your perceived limits.

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant, who coined the term "challenger," describes this person as: "Somebody who pushes you because they believe in you. They are not willing to settle for something that is not your absolute best work." This challenge network provides honest feedback, reveals blind spots, and pushes you toward continuous growth.

This post covers what a challenge network is, how to build one, and when and how to ask for help.

Startup Spark

“If you want to make money, you have to help someone else make money.”
– Russell Simmons

Focus on creating value for your customers, partners, and stakeholders. Real value emerges from solving their pain points, boosting efficiency, building meaningful connections, and ultimately helping them succeed.

Others' needs evolve just like our own. So regularly ask how you can help them reach their goals. By facilitating others' success, you create network effects. Your product or service grows more valuable as the user base expands, leading to exponential growth.

Expert Tips for Startups
Quick, valuable insights from accomplished founders

"Vibe Coding" Has Arrived—What's Your Security Strategy?

We're experiencing an unprecedented shift toward AI-driven software development. To stay competitive, modern businesses must transform their engineering processes and organizational structures.

While you address core questions like "Do we understand our code?" and establish the right roles and skills for your team, now is the perfect time to develop risk management and product, application, and cloud security practices that align with your new processes and business goals.

Brett Wilson is the Managing Partner at IOmergent, and you can learn how companies balance security and growth HERE.

Columbia University Startup Cohorts

Recently, I had the privilege of judging two Columbia University startup cohorts from Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) and Almaworks Accelerator as part of their annual CORE Day 2025.

I was thoroughly impressed by the remarkable caliber of founders, innovative ideas, and strong momentum on display, and I'm excited to follow their progress!

How We Can Help

Over 90% of startups fail. Build Scale Grow helps founders beat these odds by efficiently scaling businesses and aligning vision, resources, and efforts.

We partner with founders to build and manage teams, systems, and functions, such as Customer Success and Revenue Operations, that drive rapid growth.

Book a free 30-minute call HERE to see how we can help.