Concrete illustration of the Secure Change Manifesto — Startup in hypergrowth
Context
“GrowUp” is a tech startup founded by four passionate partners.
Its DNA: highly autonomous teams, decisions made close to the field, total transparency.
Initially: 12 people, a tribe-like spirit, and strong customer proximity.
The governance model? Inspired by examples like Morning Star: no formal hierarchy, no titles.
Everyone is responsible for their own commitments, everyone contributes freely.
The tipping point
After just 2 years, the startup experienced rapid commercial success.
Major fundraising → goal: scale from 25 to 150 people within 12 months.
International expansion.
Investor pressure: “You must professionalize! Add structure!”
Early warning signs:
- New hires somewhat lost,
- Blurred roles,
- Temptation to recreate “project managers”,
- Founders’ fear: “Will we lose our culture? Will we lose control of our economic model?”
The choice: scaling consciously
The founders refused to fall into the trap of chaotic scaling or imposed structuring.
They chose to apply the Secure Change approach to navigate this critical phase.
Concrete application of Secure Change :
Clarifying what we want to preserve (Compass 1)
Founders workshop with the whole team.
The 4 key invariants identified:
- Individual responsibility & autonomy,
- Radical transparency,
- Sustainable economic control,
- Direct connection with customers.
Building simple points of vigilance (Compass 2)
Examples chosen by the teams:
To preserve autonomy:
- Decisions documented in pairs, without imposed hierarchical validation.
To preserve the customer connection:
- Customer feedback is reviewed monthly by each team.
To preserve cultural integrity:
- Quarterly follow-up on how new hires experience the organization.
To preserve economic control:
- Explicit commitment: each team remains responsible for its budget.
- Points of vigilance:
- Transparent expense tracking (monthly budget visible to all),
- Simple peer-review of spending across teams,
- For any commitment exceeding X €, mandatory cross-validation by at least two other teams or a designated cross-team circle.
Positioning leadership as a guardian (Compass 3)
Founders do not adopt a top-down managerial role.
Instead, they act as “framework guardians.”
Each team appoints a “Culture Guardian Pair,” trained in SecureChange:
- They adapt and localize invariants and vigilance points
- Local adaptations are allowed as long as they remain aligned with the global intent
Example (localized PV):
The French Product Team reframes “customer connection” as:
“Continuous feedback via stakeholder access to staging environments.”
Leadership supports emergence and coherence:
Local leaders actively support the emergence of new initiatives
Example: cross-functional AI impact communities emerged, supported by leadership with tools and meeting facilities.
Continuous reevaluation (Compasses 4)
From Friction to Actionable Adjustment
Tension noticed:
The following PV (to preserve cultural integrity) was found to be unclear:
“Quarterly follow-up on how new hires perceive the organization.”
Feedback from teams:
- Too vague: What does “follow-up” mean? Survey? Interview? Casual talk?
- Hard to compare results over time
- Unclear how to use results for real improvement
New agreed PV after inter-team discussion:
“Quarterly NPS (Net Promoter Score) for new hires (< 6 months), followed by a collective debrief with at least one team’s Culture Guardian.”
This makes the signal: Quantifiable / Interpretable / Actionable
Continuous reevaluation (Compasses 5)
Quarterly:
- Points of vigilance are reviewed
- Invariants are challenged:
Do they still make sense in our new international reality?
Do local adaptations call for a shift in our core values?
Results after 18 months
- 160 people across 4 countries.
- No formal hierarchical layers added.
- New hires report very strong cultural coherence.
- Teams have fully retained budget control.
- Investors are reassured: growth is structured and under control.
- Founders did not “lose their baby” in the process.
Testimonial
“At first, we thought stating our values was enough. But at scale, it’s not: you need to structure vigilance. Secure Change allowed us to keep our soul and steer our growth responsibly.”
— Co-founder of GrowUp
Conclusion
The GrowUp case shows that a simple, clear, and living approach like Secure Change allows companies to scale quickly without weakening, without losing their culture or economic rigor — and most importantly, without betraying the essence of the organization.
This case study illustrates the general approach presented in the Secure Change Manifesto.
It does not include all the observable, measurable criteria and governance mechanisms, which are detailed in the Principles of the approach.
To explore further, we invite you to visit the Secure Change Principles page.
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