Scaling Smarter: Why We Chose EOS for LevelUp

In early 2020, LevelUp saw a sharp spike in client demand. Within two years, we’d grown from around a dozen employees to more than seventy. It was exciting growth, but it quickly became chaotic as we did our best to keep up.

As a hands-on founder and first-time CEO, almost everything went through me - interviews, training, client escalations, sales calls, proposals, contracts, performance management, even disciplinary issues. It was unsustainable and we knew it would hinder our growth in the long term.

It was also clear that we had a lot to figure out around organizational structure, process, and company management. Rather than invent our own system, we chose to implement EOS. My co-founder had used it before with good results, so we brought in a certified implementer and kicked off in January 2023.

What worked well

Implementer

The biggest win was bringing in an EOS implementer. We could have tried to self-implement, but having someone external to guide us made all the difference. He kept us honest, pushed us through hard decisions, and coached us when issues got tough.

Meetings

Another clear benefit was the meeting pulse. Weekly Level 10s, quarterly sessions, and annual planning gave us a consistent rhythm. They kept us focused on priorities, surfaced issues quickly, and gave us a clear space for solving problems.

Rocks

Rocks were another improvement. With a clearer scope and SMART criteria, objectives became more focused and easier for people to take ownership of.

Projects that might once have dragged on now had better definition and a higher chance of actually being completed.

Vision and values

Finally, EOS helped us put a sharper definition around vision and values. Having quarterly, annual, and three-year forecasts provided a clearer path forward. Writing down our core values gave the team a common language to align with.

What didn’t work (at first)

Accountability chart

Guidance on the accountability chart can feel restrictive. In a smaller organization like ours, roles often need to be broad, and flexibility is important. At first, we made the mistake of defining roles too tightly, which created bottlenecks instead of helping us move faster. Over time, we learned to loosen this up and allow for more flexibility.

Structure

There’s also the risk of introducing unnecessary layers. For us, a flatter structure often works better, so we had to be careful not to overcomplicate things by adding too much hierarchy where it wasn’t needed.

Rocks

Expecting every individual to come up with strong rocks that are truly the top priorities for the business proved to be a stretch. For smaller teams with less experienced members, this didn’t always work out. We found that a bit more top-down guidance was required, while still encouraging ownership once the priorities were clear.

The Impact on Our Team

Cultural Shift

The biggest change was cultural. Having a clear and proven operating system signaled to the team that we were serious about building a great business. It increased trust in leadership and boosted morale.

Shared Language

Everyone began speaking the same language. Terms like rocks, IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve), accountability charts, and L10 meetings became part of everyday work. This removed unnecessary complexity from conversations and helped us get to the crux of issues much faster.

Clear Ownership

Ownership also became clearer. Everyone knew the area they were responsible for and what their objectives were each quarter, because they had either set them or agreed to them. There was no need for long explanations. It was obvious whether a rock was on track or not.

Stability in Challenges

EOS also served as a guide during challenging times. When scorecard metrics were off track, a rock was missed, or a people issue came up, the framework provided direction. It gave the team confidence that decisions were aligned with long-term goals and core values.

The Business Impact

Since implementing EOS, we’ve more than doubled in size and successfully launched a second core service offering.

We achieved that growth because of client demand and team effort, but EOS gave us the structure to handle it without breaking.

It also changed how I spent my time as CEO. Before EOS, I was the bottleneck. Almost every decision flowed through me. With a clear management structure and priorities cascading down, our leadership team and managers now own many of those responsibilities.

That shift has allowed me to move away from firefighting and daily execution toward focusing more on vision, strategy, and scaling the business. We’re still improving, but EOS has made that transition possible.

Honest reflections

EOS is not a magic bullet. It won’t turn your business around with a simple three-step plan. It’s a toolkit and a shared language that helps you run the business more effectively. If you have deeper issues, such as a weak business model, poor product quality, or a toxic culture, you’ll still have to put in the hard work to fix those.

What EOS does is force those issues into the open. It provides guardrails for working through them and a structure that helps ensure they don’t just get patched but actually resolved.

That’s exactly what happened for us. When a scorecard metric was off track, a rock was missed, or a people issue surfaced, there was no way to ignore it. The system brought it straight to the table.

That led to some tough conversations and a few headache-inducing brainstorming sessions, but they were necessary. Facing those problems directly is what allowed us to get to where we are today.

Final thoughts for Other Founders

If you’re considering EOS, here are my main takeaways:

For LevelUp, EOS has been an important part of managing growth. It gave us tools and a common language that made scaling more manageable. We still have work to do, but it has helped us take steady steps forward.