VOL 7 - BUILT TO BREAK by Lawrence M. Schneider

The business is growing. Sales are up. The team is larger. Yet every new customer seems to create more pressure, more exceptions, and more work for you.
 
The offer is harder to explain than it used to be. Prices no longer reflect what delivery actually requires. Customers who should be profitable consume senior attention, extra 
meetings, and repeated reassurance. More people have been hired, but the founder still closes the gaps. From the outside, the company looks successful. Inside, it is becoming 
harder to carry.
 
Built to Break examines the moment when the business model that created early traction becomes the structure limiting the next stage of growth.
 
Most founders do not design their first business model in one deliberate act. They accumulate it. A price is chosen because it feels safe. A service is added because a good customer 
asks. A contractor is hired to relieve immediate pressure. A special exception becomes permanent. Each decision makes sense at the time. Together, they can become a model built 
for survival rather than scale.
 
Lawrence M. Schneider identifies seven recognizable fractures:
 
The Customer-Promise Gap — the buyer, problem, and promised result no longer fit cleanly.
Pricing Without Purpose — the price wins the sale but does not fund the work.
Offer Sprawl — custom packages and exceptions turn one company into several small businesses.
Delivery Drag — fulfillment consumes more capacity and margin than the sale anticipated.
Role Tangle — people are organized around history and personalities rather than outcomes.
Signal Blindness — the numbers describe what happened too late or from the wrong angle.