How I am Preparing for Year 3

“How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and all the prophets. By faith, these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with Justice, and received what God had promised them. ”

How shall I prepare for Year 3?

A Sprint Within the Marathon: Year 2 Reflections

StructSolve was slapped in the face with a 5x growth in less than four weeks this spring. At that time, StructSolve was still just a startup - We had no full time staff, no direction, and ultimately a fear that we had bitten off more than we could chew with our new service - "Residential Designs". We forced operations to develop drawings and calculation packages, all while having full time jobs elsewhere. This also was during the loss of key executive staff leading that very department. It was a true "hockey stick" event, and the sales results stuck. This brought on the necessity of full time employment, stronger payroll and CRM support, physical locations, and so much more. The growth has been truly unbelievable.

Staffing the company has been an incredible challenge, but I learned that you get what you pay for - so I ought to pay well, but not pay often. Putting the right person in the right role has been a skill that was quickly developed after many hiring and firings for the sales position, the "Engineer in Training" position and for the administrators. But, once we had built a full time team, we simply needed to go and execute our roles, and boy, did it work.

Many unique projects were launched this year, and due to the excitement of additional income, it felt like the sky was the limit. Iowa State Interns, new locations in Ames, Cedar Rapids, and even Wisconsin, new services (including the EES!), new types of clients, and more all became critical (Some projects may still come to fruition and won't be listed here due to some potential competition starting, which is actually encouraging and will be discussed further down this paper). Come fall however, financial challenges forced us to take an in-depth look at our budget, expenses, and whether or not some of these projects were feedable. Staggeringly, many priorities I had through the summer came to a screeching halt as a proper budget became our new main priority. It does feel like we had over-hired and overspent. Some of our employees took initiative to start tracking these large expenses and keep this company on track.

Encouragingly, as I sit and write this document, we are beginning to experience the same thing we did last December: we are bringing on a new service that, similar to design, is about 5x the cost of designs, and it is beginning to sell. While the finance team is happy, I am concerned for a similar experience to last spring - understaffed and overworked. We are making preparations, but it will be difficult to predict what this will look like exactly until we are in it. Above all things, I need to keep the faith.

The Throughline: Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4

Year 2 was a sprint inside the marathon. It proved the market is real, the demand is real, and our team can execute under pressure. Year 3 is about discipline and protection: protecting our people, our margins, our client experience, and our long-term future. Year 4 is about intentional scale: taking what we learned, building repeatable systems, and growing in a way that strengthens the company instead of stretching it thin.

Keep the Faith: Priorities for Year 3

Year 3 needs to do one major thing: explicitly define and solidify our firm's existence and impact on the market. We have experienced incredible growth, and we will continue to do so naturally, but it's time to move the goal posts.

Instead of constant cooperate projects that push us to our financial limits, it's time for us to start to develop a "nest egg". This second winter has given us much more insight as to what happens to the market, and while this year may be particularly harder than others, we want to be ready for next winter. Instead of being aggressive in our approach to new projects, we need to focus on solidification. There is no need, technically speaking, to increase volume at this time. Natural growth will happen, but it's existence is a bit less critical than before. We have our clients, we have our mark on the industry, we are not as desperate for growth as we were before. I believe we need to leverage this luxury by solidification.

And doing so requires each and every person in the firm to pledge with me to keep the faith. What do I mean by this exactly? I believe that when there is an abundance of comfortability, I start to conform to harmful behavior. When I am surrounded by food, I will get fat. When I am surrounded by comfortable seating, I won't move. When I have screens all around me, I tend to doom scroll and check out of reality. Temptation of harmful behavior can come by our surroundings, and work is no exception.

If our goal is to create a less "start-up" environment for the firm, I begin to fear that by doing this, we will become harmfully stagnant. If we have been given this gift, why would I disrespect it by not pushing harder than ever? We should continue to grow, continue to push, continue to receive what we ought to obtain by our efforts! And yet...

My respect for my father is immense. He recently told me some wise words:

"If given the opportunity, the original actions that you took to give life to this company will not hesitate to kill it. As risky as it was to start this firm, you'll find the danger even greater in those same actions now."

"Slow down and look around you, you are working your friends to death. Loyalty has an expiration date."

I need to take care of the people that have entrusted their families into my hands. I am determined to slow down and build this company to be impervious to financial swings, but that takes determination and consistency. This will help us launch through the next glass celling, but it will take time.

Throughout this process, I refuse to stop dreaming of what this company will one day become. I will keep the faith because it is clear to me: This company is destined for national impact. Even if we have to grind it out for a summer, or even for an entire year, I refuse to lose sight of this vision. Our mission statement is to become the best residential engineering firm in the nation, and I will not divorce myself from this mission.

The people involved in this company, regardless of the temporary pull back, cannot lose faith of this mission either. We will pull back, we will regroup, and we will relaunch farther and deeper and harder than ever before. To ensure this, this time will need to be spent preparing for Year 4.

We Will Still Dream Big: Goals for Year 4

Custom Structure Design (CSD) should be positioned as a premium, repeatable solution for custom home builders who need engineering support that protects schedules and reduces redesign loops. Builders want a partner who treats custom homes as a priority and delivers consistent communication, fast turnaround, and dependable design support. When we commit to this lane, we become the trusted engineering team for higher-end homes, creating steadier pipelines, cleaner projects, and stronger long-term builder relationships.

To support that growth, we need a multi-person sales team that creates demand consistently and expands coverage across markets and builder segments. A team approach builds accountability, improves follow-up, and increases the number of active conversations happening every week. With clear targets, tracking, and a shared playbook, sales becomes predictable, forecasting improves, and we can plan staffing and delivery with more confidence.

Launching and solidifying the Wisconsin branch will turn expansion into real market presence and repeatable revenue. A stable branch builds local credibility, shortens response times, and makes it easier for us to recruit talent near the work. As it matures, Wisconsin becomes a reliable source of repeat projects and referrals while diversifying revenue and reducing dependence on a single region.

On the delivery side, strengthening Operations with another P.E. Engineer protects quality while increasing capacity. More licensed bandwidth improves turnaround times, strengthens plan review, and reduces urgent workload spikes that burn out key people. It also creates redundancy and mentorship, which improves consistency and supports long-term scalability.

Finally, all of this needs to run inside a budget we follow closely. A disciplined budget creates clarity on hiring timing, branch investment, and sales spend, and it protects cash flow while we scale. When we execute growth plans with financial structure, margins improve, decisions get easier, and the team gains stability and confidence.

Closing Commitment

We are building something that deserves to last. We will keep the faith by staying disciplined, staying consistent, and taking care of the people who make this company run. We will protect the mission, protect the team, and protect the long-term health of StructSolve. In return, we ask every person in this firm to stay aligned, stay accountable, and stay committed to doing excellent work the right way. We will pull back when we need to, we will regroup with intention, and we will relaunch with strength.