Insights · The living company
Company lifecycle stages: growth comes in trimesters
Every new product, department or market goes through stages. Classic business lifecycle models describe them from the outside: startup, growth, maturity, decline. We look at them from the inside, with a very natural image: the three trimesters of a pregnancy. It tells you which phase you are in, which people you need, and where you belong as an owner.
By Dirk Jan Versluis, registered psychologist (NIP). Updated 15 November 2026.
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Company lifecycle stages, seen from the inside
Classic models of the business lifecycle, such as those of Larry Greiner and Ichak Adizes, describe how companies move through stages of growth, and the crises that come with each transition. They are useful. But they look at the company from the outside.
There is a simpler way. Entrepreneurship is about giving birth to something. Think of the word brainchild. First something exists only in your head, then you work it out. You materialize it, and in that word is mater, mother. We even say: the idea was born. Or: that was quite a delivery. The language is already there.
This article draws on Dirk Jan Versluis’s book Je bedrijf is ook een patiënt (Your company is a patient too, in Dutch, December 2026). Read the summary of the whole book in organizational trauma: why your company is a patient too.
The three trimesters of growth
The first trimester: conception
It starts with conception. In English we say an idea is conceived: received. A spark, an inspiration, a higher insight comes into your mind. You see something in front of you. It is still an embryo: there is life, but hardly any form. Everything happens in your imagination, and in your head everything is possible.
The second trimester: hands and feet
Now the child gets hands and feet. You have told people, so there are reactions. Some find it good, others not. You make agreements and arrange things. How do we get this off the ground? Everything becomes more physical, and the physical challenges grow. This is the phase of the rough construction, and here you often meet differences in consciousness: how do you get across what is in your head?
The third trimester: nesting
The big structure is standing. Now everything is worked out more finely and integrated. Everything is massaged and shaped, so that the child can be born. Then comes the delivery: the product goes to market, the department opens, the book is published.
Whether you open a new department, launch a new product, enter a new market or write a book, it always follows this cycle of creation.
Who belongs in which trimester?
Many people want to know what type they are: which color, which profile. That can be valuable, but also a little static. With the three trimesters you can say something else: people have a natural suitability for one of the three phases.
- The visionaries. People with a strong creative drive, the real entrepreneurs. The first trimester inspires them: sparring, brainstorming, mood boards. It only becomes intimidating in the second trimester, when everything gets physical and the joy of inspiration fades.
- The builders. People with more earth in them. They naturally see what is needed to make things concrete. They are not afraid of the work. They dare to knock down a wall and lay a foundation. Hands in the clay: that is where they shine.
- The finishers. In the third phase it is about finishing, fine-tuning and integration. Here you need people who are extremely conscientious. In the earlier phases they are often seen as obstacles: too realistic to dream along. But when the brainchild has hands and feet and needs to be finished well, they are indispensable.
Every time a renewal has to go through your company, ask: which phase are we in, and who do I want on board in this phase? You do not want the visionary who gets discouraged quickly in phase two or three. And you do not want a real builder to spend too much time daydreaming. Look at unhappy people this way too: are they working close to their nature, or against the grain?
Where do you belong as an owner?
Many entrepreneurs change places as their company grows. In the beginning you work on the shop floor. As you grow, the distance has to increase, or you lose overview. The great pain of many owners is that they work too much in their business, and too little on it.
If, as an owner, you spend too much time in the second and third trimester, it may be better to free yourself for the first. Then you put in the dipstick. You feel what is needed and what the next development zone is. You look two or three quarters ahead, or further. Governing is looking ahead. That is first-trimester work.
For the owner of a larger company, the whole building process is often too heavy, also for your own body. Leave those growing pains to people who can give it their full attention, so that you can set the next course. Read more about founder syndrome.
From doing to being
Personal development often focuses on behavior, and so on doing. In the end it should be about being. What comes naturally? Where do you not have to work hard?
To find out, look back five or ten years. What do I always do when I arrive somewhere? What do I evoke, what do I set in motion? You are looking for the chorus: wherever I go, I naturally do this. And listen to your feelings: when do I not feel like I am working? What makes my whole body soft?
Be careful with talent, too. You can lose yourself in something you are extremely good at. If you had an unsafe childhood and learned to read people very well, you may be excellent at solving conflicts under pressure. That does not mean that energy makes you happy.
Maybe, when you put together a team or look for your own place, you are a bit of a florist. You put the brightly colored flowers in a beautiful spot. But they also need some green, to give them stability.
At Triunify
Finding the right place, for you and your people
We help owners and leadership teams see which phase their company, or a project, is in, who belongs where, and where the owner can make the biggest difference. Often that starts with the owner’s own place.
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Frequently asked questions
What are the stages of a company lifecycle?
Classic models describe stages such as startup, growth, maturity and decline. We describe the creation of anything new in three trimesters: conception, building and finishing, followed by the birth of the product, department or market.
Why do companies get stuck between growth stages?
Often because the right people are in the wrong phase, or the owner stays in work that belongs to a different phase. Each trimester asks for different people and a different kind of attention.
Which people do you need in each stage?
Visionaries in the first trimester, builders in the second, and conscientious finishers in the third. Every team needs some of each, but not everyone in every phase.
Where should an owner be in a growing company?
Usually more and more in the first trimester: sensing what is needed next and setting the course, while others carry the building and finishing work.
Is this the same as a business lifecycle model?
It complements one. Lifecycle models describe a company from the outside. The trimesters describe how every new development grows from the inside.
Read also
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