In 1973, "Bill Bain" founded Bain & Company with several colleagues who worked w

<How did 'Bain & Company', one of the top consulting firms around the world, grow in its early days?>

1. In 1973, "Bill Bain" founded Bain & Company with several colleagues who worked with Boston Consulting Group.

2. Bain & Company grew rapidly in the first decade of its foundation, averaging 50% per year. This was largely due to word of mouth at CEOs' meetings, which was well-received for Bain's excellent advice in strategy and cost reduction.

3. It was only in 1977 that I (=Fred Rickelt) applied for a job at Bain. I was the only classmate who graduated from Harvard University at the time to apply to Bain. It wasn't a safe choice to venture into a company that had only been established for four years, but I realized that Bain was a company that could learn a lot in a short period of time.

4. On this point, I was right. Bain had to establish a strong relationship with the client's CEO and management to achieve this because he was responsible for projects with a limited scope of work when working for another consulting firm and the client's scope is typically designated by the client.

5. As a young consultant, I had an unprecedented opportunity to have a significant impact on major corporations. I learned a lot about my work and made a lot of money.

6. What was the right thing that Bain did at the time? In my opinion, I dare say that Bain's management considered 'the main mission was to grow a community of employees who had the extraordinary ability to do great things for their customers'.

7. When the company was growing, Bain's management enabled its employees to exert meaningful influence. In other words, it helped customers achieve excellent results.

8. The only way for a company to grow early (though easily overlooked by people in a chaotic business ecosystem) is to earn "customer royalties."

9. In their early days, Bain employees were proud of the company's lack of marketing activities. In fact, Bain didn't even have a business card for a long time.

10. Employees of Bain, a small start-up company, thought that 'sales and marketing costs' were like taxes the company had to pay when it failed to help customers perform well.

11. So Bain's employees focused all their energy on getting their customers to perform remarkably well.

12. At the time, Bain did not have a senior partner exclusively dedicated to sales (common with consulting firms). There were no employees attending conferences and presenting, and they did not go to industry meetings and chat.

13. The only reason that early Bain was able to grow quickly was that our customers really liked the results they produced, so they used our services more every year and recommended them to their friends and colleagues. (And this was a huge pride for early Bain employees.)

- Fred Rykelt et al., Among <Companies Winning for Purpose>