In 2005, when my business partner Eric Grossberg and I started Brilliant Earth, we had a mission to create beautiful jewelry while cultivating a more transparent, sustainable and compassionate jewelry industry. Since that time, Brilliant Earth has grown to be the leader in ethically sourced jewelry and leading retailer of lab-grown diamonds.

Over the last 15 years, we’ve learned innumerable lessons about building and scaling a successful business. We’ve tested new ideas, some of which worked and some that didn’t. We’ve had to be flexible to adapt to a changing retail landscape and a changing global landscape. But all of these changes have driven growth and continued progress.

While we’re still evolving and changing, and will continue to do so, we’ve been able to distill what we’ve learned over the past 15 years down to five key concepts. If you’re looking to develop and scale your business, we’ve found these ideas to be essential to our success:

Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

Frequently testing and iterating on new ideas is key to maintaining flexibility and speed. This ethos of embracing change, consistently seeking improvements, and testing new ideas is core to the culture at Brilliant Earth. Everything is constantly evolving — consumer needs, new technology, potential partners — so if we waited for any idea or product to be perfect, we’d likely be waiting forever. To scale a business, you need to be flexible and adaptable in order to make continual improvements.

Data-Based Decisions

My background as a satellite engineer instilled the importance of using data to support strong decision making. At Brilliant Earth, we utilize data to make well-informed decisions, while also learning from customer insights and keeping a pulse on the market. Evaluating our performance in a data-driven manner has helped us uplevel and improve our business in many key areas, from operational efficiency to product introductions to website design.

Mission

From our inception, our mission has been core to our culture and a driving factor in our decision making. Our mission unites our team behind a common purpose, and the ability to have a positive social impact serves as a strong motivator. We donate 5 percent of net profits to help communities impacted by the jewelry trade build a brighter future. We’ve also noticed that consumers are increasingly drawn to products that have meaning; they want to support mission-driven companies that align with their values, so we continue to introduce products and collections that are specifically tied to giving back, and these have resonated well with customers.

Collaboration

Multiple perspectives and expertise are needed to solve highly complex problems. Therefore, in order to truly scale your business, you need to build and inspire a strong team. When we work together to solve problems, we’re able to draw upon the expertise and inspiration of each team member, ultimately resulting in more creative, effective and efficient solutions. To foster a collaborative team culture, I encourage transparency, accountability and a team-oriented mindset.

Adapt

In order to scale a business successfully, you need to rethink process, organizational structure, and strategic areas of focus as you reach different phases of your growth. A process that worked at a smaller size may no longer be suitable at a larger size. This past year, in particular, showed us just how important it is to be adaptable in order to survive and thrive. For example, our openness to change and nimble approach allowed Brilliant Earth to launch virtual appointments within days to provide our customers a convenient way to interact with our jewelry specialists beyond our physical showrooms. Be nimble and adapt to process changes, and invest in new people, tools and resources that enable scaling.