SOPs and documentation, workflows, vendors and procurement, customer support, incidents, security basics and internal communication — the unglamorous layer that decides whether growth breaks you.
Lessons
SOPs — writing down how things are done — Write it the second time you do something, not the twentieth. It is also the only way to delegate without re-explaining. (10 min)
Vendors, tools and recurring costs — Subscriptions accumulate silently. An annual audit routinely finds 20–30% of tool spend buying nothing. (10 min)
Support that scales — Every repeated question is a product defect wearing a costume. Treat the ticket list as a roadmap. (10 min)
Security and data basics — Not a security programme. The handful of things that prevent the incidents that actually happen to small companies. (12 min)