After scaling a single location to its revenue limit (e.g., $9M in a dental practice), the primary growth strategy shifts from optimizing internal processes to duplicating the successful model in a new location. The constraint moves from marketing to talent acquisition for the new site.

Counterintuitively, the best multifamily markets aren't high-population-growth cities like Austin. These attract too much new supply, capping rent growth. The optimal strategy is to find markets with barriers to entry and minimal new construction, as this creates a durable runway for rental increases.

When moving beyond your initial niche, target adjacent verticals. For example, a company serving realtors should target mortgage brokers next, not an unrelated field like lawn maintenance. This strategy maximizes the transfer of product features, market knowledge, and potential word-of-mouth.

When deciding between deepening a vertical, adding adjacent ones, or going horizontal, analyze two key factors: the extent of product modification needed and your ability to market and sell to the new audience. This framework simplifies a complex strategic choice.

The path to a multi-million dollar local business involves three steps. First, maximize your current location's capacity and marketing channels. Once that's capped, the real scale comes from duplicating the successful model in new locations, turning a small opportunity into a large one.

Instead of concentrating its sales force in one region, Deel hired individual salespeople in various countries early in its journey. This counterintuitive move, often criticized as defocusing, allowed the company to quickly test and understand multiple markets in parallel. This strategy was key to rapidly ramping up a global go-to-market motion with localized insights.

The allure of expanding into a major market like New York City can be a trap. Fully exploit the potential of your existing, more manageable markets first. Chasing expansion for the sake of prestige before you've maximized local potential is a common business mistake.

Major metropolitan areas like NYC or LA are oversaturated. Growing 'Tier-2' cities have an influx of wealthy residents creating high demand for services, but often lack a sufficient supply of sophisticated providers. This creates a significant arbitrage opportunity for entrepreneurs leveraging modern marketing and AI.

Instead of creating a market expansion strategy from scratch, ServiceUp explicitly copied the playbook of DoorDash, a successful three-sided marketplace in an adjacent vertical. This involved entering a new city and simultaneously acquiring customers, suppliers (shops), and drivers, accelerating growth.