Business isn’t just about growth — Do you have a scaling mindset?

If you’ve ever bought anything from Laz Mall or Shopee Mall — and who hasn’t? — you’ve bought from Steve Sy’s Great Deals. Unknown to most, the tech and practical knowhow that moves e-commerce in the Philippines comes from this entrepreneur’s company. Great Deals is involved in everything about e-commerce, from content, online shop creation and management, to warehousing and fulfillment, to analytics. In fact, the reach of Great Deals is so vast that it was recognized by the Financial Times as the fastest growing company in the Asia-Pacific region.

Recently, I had the good fortune to share a microphone with Steve Sy on my podcast. In our conversation, the founder and CEO of Great Deals eCommerce uncovered many of the secrets to his success as an entrepreneur. For Mr. Sy, business isn’t just about growth; it’s about having a scaling mindset.

How does one achieve a scaling mindset? He begins by riffing on a quote by the business speaker Simon Sinek. “Business is a game of endless possibilities,” he says. And harnessing the infinite possibilities of business is at the very center of the scaling mindset that Mr. Sy talks about. Read on, to learn more.

THE 4 PsSteve Sy is known as an industry disruptor. He revolutionized online retail when Lazada was starting to explode in 2012. But more than that, he is a business enabler who has helped countless entrepreneurs as well as big brands set up shop online.

What’s even more remarkable about this disruptor and enabler is that he continues to give to the business community through education and learning. You can check out his LinkedIn or his educational business book, Great Debt to Great Deals, which traces his history of being mired in debt to building a company worth over a billion pesos. In this book, he talks about the four Ps: Profitability, Purpose, People, and Planet.

Going back to basics is crucial for him, and he encourages entrepreneurs to examine the four Ps.

“People ask me, what’s the main mission of doing business?” he says. “So sabi ko (I said), there should be four Ps. Number one, the first P, is it needs to be profitable. [Business] needs to be profitable so that you will have sustainability. Number two is purpose.”

He believes that profitability and purpose are linked.

“Why did I put profitability first?” he asks. “Because even though you have a very good purpose, if you’re not profitable, it’s not going to be a business. So, profit can sustain our purpose. Monetary profit is the gas that brings us to our mission.”

For Mr. Sy, truly successful businesses are driven by more than just profit. They transcend functional purpose to embrace their mission.

He gives Great Deals as an example, saying, “Our mission is to uplift Filipino lives through the digital economy.” Segueing into the third and fourth P, he continues, “Number three is to be able to bless our people. And then last but not the least, the fourth P is our planet. Assist the planet, conserve our resources.”

As an example of the four Ps in action, Mr. Sy recalls how many companies like Google and Facebook were downsizing in 2022 and how Great Deals was being influenced by the board to do the same. But instead, they chose to retain their people.

He says, “We made this decision because we want to bless our people… Sometimes you don’t really need to maximize profit, but to optimize that. That’s why we have a lot of benefits for our employees in the company because we want to build the right culture also.”

GROWTH MINDSET VS SCALING MINDSETWith the basics in place, Steve Sy recommends pursuing a scaling mindset instead of a growth mindset.

“There’s a difference between a growth mindset and a scaling mindset,” he says. “Kasi growth mindset, ang sagot lang dyan, dagdag tayo ng tao. [Because with a growth mindset, the only answer is, let’s add more people.] Because when you’re growing your revenue, and sumasabay ang expense mo, that’s growth. [Because when you’re growing revenue, and your expenses are keeping pace, that’s growth.] But there’s no scale in it.”

Scaling is sustainable growth, and it has no limits.

Again, he gives Great Deals as an example. “Last year, we had 38% growth in our company,” he says. “But our OPEX [operating expense] stayed flat. So, it means we’re operating efficiently and scaling up.”

To achieve this, the company automated many of its processes.

“There are a lot of things that you can automate so that you don’t need to add additional cost to your operating expense,” he explains. “So with the use of AI, we are able to reduce 60% of chat support because we’ve used AI in our company. In a sense, even if we grew our company another 200%, we can have the same chat support.”

Balancing the four Ps and a scaling mindset, he says, “And that’s where the blended culture has to come in — the blended culture that you’re using AI and you yourself as the talent.”

In parting, Mr. Sy challenges entrepreneurs, saying, “Now, it’s for the entrepreneurs to look at those opportunities and find those pain points on how they can offer their services or their products so that you can build a very good business.”

RJ Ledesma (www.rjledesma.com) is a Hall of Fame Awardee for Best Male Host at the Aliw Awards, a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and business mentor, podcaster, an Honorary Consul, and editor-in-chief of The Business Manual. Mr. Ledesma can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. The RJ Ledesma Podcast is available on Facebook, Spotify, Google and Apple Podcasts. Are there entrepreneurs you want Mr. Ledesma to interview? Let him know at ledesma.rj@gmail.com.