When Is It Time to Scale Your Business? Lessons From Binalot’s Rommel Juan

Every successful entrepreneur gets to a point where they ask, “Is it time to scale?” 

Their business model may be showing signs of working. Or maybe they’ve hit that watershed moment when they start making money. With these heart-quickening signs come other “maybes." Maybe if I hired more people, maybe if I opened another branch, maybe if I found partners...

Along with these new maybes of growth and their future rewards comes risk. Scale too early and entrepreneurs may have to wait years for investments to bear fruit. Scale too late and competitors may beat you to the punch.

To gain some insight on when to scale, The Business Manual spoke to Rommel Juan, the founder, CEO and president of Binalot, and how he scaled his business to become a constant presence in Filipino lives across the country.

Juan is also the chairman of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP)—an organization devoted to the growing EV industry which, coincidentally, is having its to-scale-or-not-to-scale moment in the current oil crisis. Both of Rommel Juan’s enterprises have valuable lessons for entrepreneurs who are on the cusp of making it big.

What Are the Signs that It’s Time to Scale?

Before Binalot grew to cover Metro Manila and Luzon with dozens of branches, it was growing by around a store every year. The explosion in scale came when Binalot opened itself to franchising in 2004.

Binalot didn’t jump into franchising right away.

“Before scaling, a business must first prove that its model works,” Rommel Juan said. “It has to be profitable and stable. Ideally, it should have operated for at least one full year so the owners understand the seasonal highs and lows of the business cycle.”

Even when the company eventually embarked on franchising, it focused on systems and processes to ensure consistency among its franchise partners.

As Juan explained, “Standardization is very important because scaling without systems often creates chaos. When the operations are repeatable and the numbers are sustainable, that’s when a business is truly ready to scale.”

How Do You Build the Confidence to Scale Your Business?

Beyond profitability, stability, and systems, Juan reminds entrepreneurs that scaling is not just about markets or numbers. It takes courage and confidence.

He shared that Binalot was already considering franchising prior to 2004. They had even worked with a franchise consultant as early as 2000 to prepare for the systems required.

“But despite that,” he told The Business Manual, “I still lacked the confidence to actually grant a franchise.”