---
date: 2019-03-25
modified_at: 2019-04-17
tags: [entrepreneurship]
description: Comparing qualitative scaling (adding features) versus quantitative scaling (expanding internationally) for startups and why going global might be the better choice.
---
# Qualitative versus Quantitative Scaling in your startup

One of the startups I work for went live in November 2018. Our USP is creating
an universal way of canceling and switching of all your subscriptions in one
app, with minimal effort.

Now, we have this, and we want to go further. What's next?

On the one hand, we just operate in the Netherlands, for now. We could expand
internationally and grow our user base with our current product. Let's call this
'Quantitative Scaling'. We keep the same Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), but grow
our userbase way faster.

On the other hand, we could grow our product into something bigger, but stay in
the Netherlands. Let's call this 'Qualitative Scaling'. We create more value per
user, and more Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

The question is now, what's the best way to expand our business? I think there
isn't a simple answer. However, I have a few arguments for the quantitative
scaling approach:

Firstly, when broadening our product, we are going to create additional features
that aren't necessarily unique. We're going to do things other companies also
do; the only advantage is that now, it's all done in one single app. This is
imitation, and imitation is procastrination, some people say.

Secondly, the product is going to be less scalable internationally if we operate
in many different ways. If we offer many different services instead of just one,
it's going to be harder to make all of these services work in more than one
country. Expanding internationally is going to take more effort.

Thirdly, we may not need more value propositions. We have two now, which are
very clear to the user: canceling and switching your subscriptions. If we expand
that to more things, for example complaints and editing subscriptions, it may
become flaky and unclear, and may not add that much value to the user. The user
can already do this on other websites anyway. Therefore, it's not sure if it
will really help for growth or CLV if we create more features since the product
may become more vague.

Lastly, I think that our product is already of great value as it is right now. I
think there's no need to expand into more functionality. It will only blur out
the real, unique value proposition. Therefore, it's probably better to scale
quantitively instead of qualitatively, and go global.

P.S. There may be a much easier way that's very scalable, that would give almost
the same value to the user: just add two outlinks to every subscription company:
A contact button (for complaints, but also editing subscriptions) and a button
that leads to the administration page of the company itself. This just requires
two links, instead of many many API integrations and other stuff, but the value
for the end-user is almost the same!