How to Grow Your Business Without Taking Big Risks

Ndapandula Lukas
Jul 16
2 min read

Updated: Jul 17

Inspired by Molo Molo African Tech Stories ft. Eagle Oosters (Founder of Unleash)

What if I told you that the key to scaling your tech business isn’t in building faster—but in learning faster?

In a recent episode of Molo Molo African Tech Stories, we sat down with Egil Østhus, co-founder of Unleash, a company that helps tech teams scale software development without compromising agility, security, or user experience. His journey—from coding at 11 to co-building a platform used across major enterprise environments—is full of insight for anyone looking to build smarter, not just bigger.

The Risk Most Startups Ignore

Too often, startups equate speed with success. They rush to launch, throw everything into a single release, and hope for the best. But as Eagle reminds us, “Going all in too early is like flying blind—it’s risky and rarely repeatable.”

Instead, he urges businesses to embrace incremental rollouts, smart feature flags, and continuous user validation.

Agility ≠ Chaos

One of the most surprising takeaways from our conversation was how often agility is misunderstood. Many teams skip planning altogether in the name of being “agile.”

"Agility doesn’t mean no plan. It means committing to revisit the plan frequently.”

Agile isn’t an excuse to be reactive. It’s a mindset of structured flexibility—anchored in experimentation, iteration, and rapid feedback loops.

Feedback Loops: Your Real Competitive Advantage

Modern product development isn’t just about building features. It’s about learning fast enough to know what not to build. Tools like Unleash allow teams to deploy to production without exposing features to all users. You can:

Test internally
Slowly roll out to early adopters
Collect feedback without disrupting your full user base

This means less risk, fewer surprises, and faster iteration cycles. More importantly, it allows your team to stay in the flow—that sweet spot where feedback is fast, relevant, and actionable.

Agility in Sales & Marketing? Yes, Please.

Surprisingly, Egil shared how these same agile principles apply beyond engineering. At Unleash, their sales team uses deal retrospectives and shared recordings to continuously improve their process. Sales isn’t just about charisma—it’s about structure, feedback, and shared learning.

Whether you’re designing software or closing deals, agility thrives on:

Small experiments
Clear process ownership
Regular reflection and adaptation

So, What’s the Real Takeaway?

Building a scalable business without big risks isn’t about being cautious—it’s about being intentional. Plan boldly, validate continuously, and learn relentlessly. And don’t forget: risk is reduced, not by hesitation, but by iteration.