Enable growth from the inside.
One Notch Up.
You've built something that works. The next challenge isn't growth, it's making sure your team, your leadership, and your culture can handle the growth you've already set in motion.
That's where One Notch Up comes in. We build the organizational systems that let growth-stage companies actually scale.
The research is clear:
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of startups fail.
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of failure reasons are people and organizational issues.
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of failed startups lacked both sound decision-making and customer orientation.
(And the pattern shows up in every growing company.)
What organizational readiness actually looks like
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Leading through your team
38% of failed startups lacked the managerial expertise to navigate the scale-up shift. Execute strategy through the team, not around it. Delegate decisions while maintaining strategic alignment. Navigate board expectations with sustained delivery and momentum.
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Teams built for speed and cohesion
14% of startups fail because of the wrong team. Another 7% collapse from misalignment between team members and investors. Install clear roles, fast feedback loops and collaboration that doesn’t require your constant involvement.
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Culture that scales with you
5% of startups fail due to burnout alone, often a symptom of cultural issues during rapid scaling. Embed values in how people work, not just how the company describes itself. Enable new hires to accelerate momentum, not dilute it.
We build
ORGANIZATIONAL
READINESS.
We help you and your team rise to the challenge of scale, finding where everyone contributes best, building resilient dynamics, creating the alignment that lets you move faster.
We build capacity for continuous adaptation, because in fast-moving environments, static solutions don’t hold. Sustainable growth requires systems that evolve with the business.
Our Approach
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Integrated
We are one partner covering leadership, teams, founder dynamics, and culture. You won't need to coordinate across multiple vendors.
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Embedded
We work alongside you, not above you or from a distance. You get a partner who understands your context and adapts as you grow.
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Experienced
We bring experience in scaling companies from the early stage through their exits. We’ve navigated the exact transitions you’re facing.
How we work together
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Organizational Diagnostic
You know something needs to change, but you're not sure what to fix first. We start with a structured assessment of your organization: your leadership, your team dynamics, your culture, and where the gaps are. In two to three weeks, you get a clear picture of what's holding growth back and a prioritized roadmap for what to address. A concrete starting point, without a long commitment.
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Scale-Up Program
A 3–6 month embedded engagement built around your specific inflection point. We work across leadership development, team structure, decision-making, and culture simultaneously, because growth challenges don't arrive in isolation. You get one partner covering everything, working alongside you, adapting as the situation evolves. Most clients start here after the Diagnostic.
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Growth Partnership
For founders who want more than a program, a thinking partner through every stage of growth. Ongoing access to work through decisions, challenges, and transitions as they arise. No fixed agenda. Built around what you need, when you need it.
Is this for you?
One Notch Up is probably right for you if:
Your company is growing but decisions are getting slower, not faster
Everything still runs through you, and you can feel the ceiling it creates
You've made your first senior hires and it's creating more friction than you expected
The team that got you here is starting to strain under where you're going
You know something needs to change organizationally, you're just not sure what to fix first
If any of these sound familiar, you're in the right place.
Work with us
We work with founders who are serious about growth and who understand that the organization behind the product is what determines whether that growth holds.
Whether you've just raised, just hit a new headcount milestone, or simply feel the company starting to strain under its own momentum - if you're ready to build what growth demands, let's talk.
Bjørn Nissen
Davor Čengija
Stephane Baillie-Gee
For Investors
Portfolio companies fail for organizational reasons more often than any other. We work with growth-stage investors to make sure that doesn't happen to theirs.