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Can Your Systems Support the Business You’re Becoming?

  • Writer: holly5100
    holly5100
  • Apr 6
  • 10 min read

Updated: Apr 8


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When revenue outpaces infrastructure, systems become your bottleneck.


Your business might be hitting seven figures…But is your backend still stuck in spreadsheets?


Here's the truth: Most founders operate at one level financially and a totally different level technically.


The ArchiTECH Ascent™ is a 7-level framework that shows how ecommerce businesses grow through two very different lenses:


  • 💰 Business Level: Revenue, product complexity, team size, operational scale

  • 🖥️ Tech Level: Platform architecture, inventory systems, automation, and backend maturity


If you're doing $5M/year but still running everything through Google Sheets and QuickBooks, your systems are lagging three levels behind.


And that's where the risk lives. The bottlenecks. The burnout.


This blog breaks down how to diagnose your business and tech levels — and how to close the gap before it costs you time, money, and your team’s sanity.


📚 Jump to a Level


LEVEL 1: STARTER


Snapshot: You’re just getting started—testing your first product, setting up shop, and learning what tools you’ll need to run an online business. The focus is on speed, simplicity, and learning. This level is about launching quickly with the bare essentials, and understanding how to operate without overcomplicating things. You’re more focused on product-market fit than tech stack optimization—and that’s exactly how it should be.


Traits:

  • Employees: Solo founder or one helper

  • SKUs: Fewer than 100

  • Tech Stack: Manual tools, disconnected, low-cost

  • Operations: Spreadsheet-driven, no standard processes

  • Customer Volume: Occasional or seasonal, unpredictable

  • Product Complexity: Simple, often made or packed in-house

  • Fulfillment: Self-fulfilled or post office runs

  • Reporting: None or manual exports

  • Team Communication: Text threads, emails, sticky notes

  • Mindset: “Let’s launch and learn”—just get something live


Reality: You're using what you’ve got—Google Sheets for inventory, Click-N-Ship for postage, maybe Etsy to test the waters. Your brain is the backend. There are no workflows, just workarounds. It’s scrappy by design. You’re not investing in systems yet—you’re building proof of concept. But the longer you stay here, the more every task drains your time and focus.


Note: You’re not investing in systems—just in getting something working. The pace is intense, but it’s part of the process.


Bottom Line: You’re validating your business model. Once you cross $100K, invest in basic structure before the hustle breaks you.


Common tools:

  1. Ecommerce platform: Shopify Basic, Etsy, WooCommerce

  2. Order management: Manual (email inbox, paper, or Shopify Orders tab)

  3. Inventory management: Google Sheets, sticky notes

  4. Product information management (PIM): None

  5. Production/assembly: Manual (garage, kitchen, home workshop)

  6. ERP: None

  7. Customer relationship management (CRM): Gmail, DMs, personal inbox

  8. Accounting: Wave, QuickBooks Self-Employed

  9. Shipping & Fulfillment: USPS Click-N-Ship, Pirate Ship

  10. Automation tools: None



LEVEL 2: GROWING


Snapshot: You’ve launched and are gaining traction. Your catalog is expanding, your order volume is growing, and you’re starting to use more tools and apps to keep up. But the cracks are showing—manual workarounds, fulfillment friction, and app sprawl are eating into your momentum.


Traits:

  • Employees: 1–3 people

  • SKUs: 100–500

  • Tech Stack: Shopify + apps, mostly siloed

  • Operations: App-driven but disconnected

  • Customer Volume: Increasing, but support is still ad hoc

  • Product Complexity: Bundles, variants, vendor-supplied SKUs

  • Fulfillment: Some batching, basic tools

  • Reporting: Limited to exports or native dashboards

  • Team Communication: Shared inboxes, group chat, spreadsheets

  • Mindset: “Make it work, then make it better”—quick fixes over clean setups


Reality: You're adding apps to plug holes—Recharge, Bold Bundles, maybe Klaviyo for email. It’s working… barely. But systems don’t talk to each other, support is backed up, and fulfillment errors are creeping in. You’re growing, but your backend is already straining. You’re reacting more than you’re running the show.


Note: Complexity is increasing. Support volume is growing. Your backend is struggling to keep up with front-end growth.


Bottom Line: You’ve got traction, but complexity is catching up. Stabilize your systems before you grow further.


Common tools:

  1. Ecommerce platform: Shopify (Standard), WooCommerce with plugins

  2. Order management: Shopify Orders, basic workflows

  3. Inventory management: Shopify Inventory, Stocky, vendor spreadsheets

  4. Product information management (PIM): Basic metafields, Airtable

  5. Production/assembly: Google Sheets, vendor emails, light batching

  6. ERP: None or pseudo-ERP via Zapier

  7. Customer relationship management (CRM): Klaviyo (basic), Gorgias (starter)

  8. Accounting: QuickBooks Simple Start, A2X

  9. Shipping & Fulfillment: ShipStation, Pirate Ship

  10. Automation tools: Zapier, Alloy (free tier)



LEVEL 3: STABILIZING


Snapshot: You’ve reached a critical stage: the business is growing fast—but it’s getting harder to keep up. You’ve added bundles, variants, and new channels. You’ve hired contractors or part-time help. But the backend hasn’t caught up with the front.


Traits:

  • Employees: 3–8 people

  • SKUs: 500–2,000+

  • Tech Stack: 8–12 tools, patched together

  • Operations: App-heavy, still disconnected

  • Customer Volume: Picking up fast, stressing fulfillment

  • Product Complexity: Bundles, variants, multi-vendor SKUs

  • Fulfillment: Internal plus some 3PL experiments

  • Reporting: Export-based, often unreliable

  • Team Communication: Slack, task boards, group texts

  • Mindset: “Stabilize so we can grow again”—clean up the chaos before scaling


Reality: You’ve outgrown the scrappy phase, but your backend didn’t get the memo. You’re running 8+ apps (ReturnLogic, Klaviyo, ShipHero), but they don’t talk. Support is growing. Fulfillment is messy. Reporting is scattered. You’re constantly checking and fixing instead of planning and executing. You’re spending more money—but not getting more peace of mind.


Note: You’re investing more, but not getting smoother. It’s expensive to keep things working—and riskier to grow.


Bottom Line: You’ve outgrown patchwork. Build the real backend before growth exposes the cracks.


Common tools:

  1. Ecommerce platform: Shopify Plus, BigCommerce Standard

  2. Order management: ShipStation, ShipHero, Order Desk

  3. Inventory management: Zoho Inventory (trial), Shopify Inventory, spreadsheets

  4. Product information management (PIM): Plytix (basic), Airtable, Treehouse

  5. Production/assembly: Manual SOPs, Google Drive checklists, Katana (light use)

  6. ERP: Zapier-based pseudo-ERP stack

  7. Customer relationship management (CRM): Gorgias, Klaviyo, HubSpot Free

  8. Accounting: QuickBooks Online with integrations

  9. Shipping & Fulfillment: ReturnLogic, 3PL dashboards

  10. Automation tools: Zapier, Make



LEVEL 4: OPTIMIZING


Snapshot: You’ve built something strong. The backend isn’t broken—it’s just slow, disconnected, or redundant. Your team is growing. You’ve moved past spreadsheets and are layering in platforms. But everything still feels stitched together. You’re tired of running multiple versions of the truth and fixing the same fires week after week. This level is about improving flow—across tools, across roles, and across the business.


Traits:

  • Employees: 8–15 people

  • SKUs: 1,000–5,000+

  • Tech Stack: 10–15 tools, loosely integrated

  • Operations: Functional, but friction-filled

  • Customer Volume: High enough to expose weak links

  • Product Complexity: New variants, kits, customizations

  • Fulfillment: Hybrid—3PL, internal, maybe wholesale too

  • Reporting: Multiple dashboards, conflicting numbers

  • Team Communication: Structured but inconsistent

  • Mindset: “Make the system flow”—stop fixing and start preventing


Reality: You’re doing real volume, and the cost of inefficiency is rising. Your tech stack is powerful—Katana, Plytix, ShipHero, Zoho—but everything still feels stitched together. You’re running duplicate processes. Reporting depends on who’s pulling the data. Everyone’s working hard, but not always in sync. The systems exist… but the structure doesn’t.


Note: You’re solving the same problems again and again. The goal isn’t to do more—it’s to make it work better.


Bottom Line: You’re not fixing problems—you’re preventing them. Optimization is your ticket to grow.


Common tools:

  1. Ecommerce platform: Shopify Plus, BigCommerce Pro

  2. Order management: Shopify Flow, Order Desk, custom workflows

  3. Inventory management: Katana, Inventory Planner, Zoho Inventory

  4. Product information management (PIM): Plytix, AirTable, Treehouse

  5. Production/assembly: Katana, Trello/ClickUp task boards

  6. ERP: Zoho One, Odoo Starter

  7. Customer relationship management (CRM): HubSpot Starter, Gorgias Team Plan

  8. Accounting: QuickBooks Online with integrations

  9. Shipping & Fulfillment: ShipHero, ReturnLogic, ShipBob

  10. Automation tools: Alloy, Make, Zapier



LEVEL 5: SYSTEMIZED


Snapshot: Your tech stack is robust, your team has grown, and your systems are finally starting to work together. You’ve moved from scattered operations to repeatable processes. Now it’s about growth, structure, and sustainability. At this level, you’re actively replacing manual tasks with automation—and people with systems.


Traits:

  • Employees: 15–30 people

  • SKUs: 5,000–10,000+

  • Tech Stack: 15–30 tools, connected across teams

  • Operations: SOP-driven, department-owned

  • Customer Volume: High, repeatable, multi-channel

  • Product Complexity: Full PIM use, frequent catalog updates

  • Fulfillment: Outsourced and automated

  • Reporting: Central dashboards, trusted KPIs

  • Team Communication: Cross-functional, documented handoffs

  • Mindset: “Design for sustainability”—replace hustle with process


Reality: You’ve moved from reactive to proactive. Systems like DEAR, Orderhive, Netstock, and Akeneo are in place. Workflows are built, documented, and owned. Automation handles the routine. Teams trust the tools—but tools still require owners. Everything’s connected—but now, optimization means people, not platforms.


Note: The labor cost reflects implementation, app ownership, and advanced platform management. You’re no longer just paying for tools—you’re investing in people who build and maintain reliable systems.


Bottom Line: You’re not just growing revenue—you’re scaling systems, structure, and team. You’re building a business engine.


Common tools:

  1. Ecommerce platform: Shopify Plus, BigCommerce Enterprise

  2. Order management: Extensiv, ShipHero OMS, Orderhive

  3. Inventory management: DEAR Inventory, Zoho Inventory, Netstock

  4. Product information management (PIM): Plytix, Akeneo Community, Treehouse

  5. Production/assembly: DEAR Manufacturing, Katana

  6. ERP: DEAR, Zoho One, Odoo (fully implemented)

  7. Customer relationship management (CRM): HubSpot Pro, Salesforce Starter

  8. Accounting: QuickBooks Online Advanced, Xero

  9. Shipping & Fulfillment: Extensiv, ShipHero, 3PL integrations

  10. Automation tools: Alloy Enterprise, Make



LEVEL 6: INTEGRATED


Snapshot: You’ve built a powerful tech stack. Now the goal is total cohesion. Your data moves in real-time. Your departments are aligned. Business decisions are informed by accurate, cross-functional insights—not guesswork. You’re running the company from the dashboard.


Traits:

  • Employees: 30–50+ people

  • SKUs: 10,000–25,000+

  • Tech Stack: 30–50 tools, unified through ERP

  • Operations: Streamlined, real-time, globally aware

  • Customer Volume: Consistent and large-scale

  • Product Complexity: Versioned, localized, channel-specific

  • Fulfillment: ERP-connected WMS, multiple channels

  • Reporting: Live dashboards with cross-functional insights

  • Team Communication: Systemized workflows, centralized tooling

  • Mindset: “If it doesn’t connect, it doesn’t belong”—data is the source of truth


Reality: You’ve built a real operating system. NetSuite, Celigo, Salesforce—everything talks. Data flows automatically. Decision-makers use dashboards. Errors are caught before they escalate. Your tech stack isn’t a collection of tools—it’s an ecosystem that runs the business.


Note: You’ve stopped reacting. Now you’re engineering growth. Integration isn’t a feature—it’s a foundation.


Bottom Line: Your backend is no longer a bottleneck—it’s your operating engine. You’ve replaced the chaos with clarity.


Common tools:

  1. Ecommerce platform: Headless Shopify, BigCommerce Enterprise

  2. Order management: NetSuite OMS, Acumatica, Celigo-integrated flows

  3. Inventory management: NetSuite Inventory, Acumatica Inventory, Netstock

  4. Product information management (PIM): Akeneo, Plytix Advanced

  5. Production/assembly: NetSuite Manufacturing, Odoo MRP

  6. ERP: NetSuite, Acumatica, Odoo Pro

  7. Customer relationship management (CRM): Salesforce, HubSpot Enterprise

  8. Accounting: ERP-native (NetSuite Financials), QuickBooks phased out

  9. Shipping & Fulfillment: ERP-connected WMS, Extensiv, custom 3PL APIs

  10. Automation tools: Celigo, Tray.io



LEVEL 7: ENTERPRISE


Snapshot: You’ve reached the summit. Your business runs like a fully-integrated machine—complex, intelligent, and built to grow across markets, brands, and channels. Growth doesn’t just happen—it’s engineered.


Traits:

  • Employees: 50–150+ people

  • SKUs: 25,000–100,000+

  • Tech Stack: 50–100 tools, modular and governed

  • Operations: Global, distributed, compliance-driven

  • Customer Volume: Multi-brand, multi-region scale

  • Product Complexity: Master data management in place

  • Fulfillment: Global logistics networks + composable OMS

  • Reporting: Role-based, strategic, tied to OKRs

  • Team Communication: Structured by role, system, and department

  • Mindset: “Structure creates freedom”—you don’t scale chaos, you scale systems


Reality: You’re not managing apps—you’re managing architecture. SAP, NetSuite, Akeneo, MuleSoft—every tool has a purpose, owner, and documented process. New teams onboard through Treehouse. Custom APIs run logistics. Enterprise infrastructure supports expansion without sacrificing clarity. Growth isn’t reactive—it’s engineered.


Note: Governance, QA, and documentation are standard. Your systems are robust—and so is the discipline.


Bottom Line: You’ve built something real. Something resilient. Something scalable. Now, the only question is: where do you want to take it next?


Common tools:

  1. Ecommerce platform: BigCommerce MSF, Headless Shopify + Hydrogen

  2. Order management: NetSuite Advanced, SAP Order Mgmt, custom logic

  3. Inventory management: NetSuite, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365

  4. Product information management (PIM): Akeneo Enterprise, in-house systems

  5. Production/assembly: SAP MRP, NetSuite Advanced Manufacturing

  6. ERP: SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics

  7. Customer relationship management (CRM): Salesforce Enterprise, Zendesk Suite

  8. Accounting: ERP-native, global roll-up enabled

  9. Shipping & Fulfillment: Multi-WMS, composable OMS, global logistics platforms

  10. Automation tools: MuleSoft, Tray.io



Typical Duration at Each Tech Maturity Level

Level

Title

Typical Time Spent

Why Businesses Leave This Level

Level 1

Starter

3–12 months

Outgrow spreadsheets and manual tracking

Level 2

Growing

6–18 months

Sales increase, complexity rises, and teams become overwhelmed

Level 3

Stabilizing

6–24 months

App sprawl, inventory issues, lack of visibility pushes move to more robust stack

Level 4

Optimizing

12–24 months

Workflow inefficiencies or volume growth requires integrated reporting and automation

Level 5

Systemized

18–36 months

Need for cross-departmental coordination, executive dashboards, and deeper analytics

Level 6

Integrated

24–48 months

Expansion (new locations, brands, global ops) drives push toward enterprise ERP features

Level 7

Enterprise

Ongoing (Level plateau)

This is typically a sustained level where tech and process maturity is maintained through continuous optimization

The Revenue vs. Reality Gap

Level

Business Revenue

Tech Behavior

Risk Level

1

<$100K

Business is run using spreadsheets, basic tools, and manual processes; this setup lacks data integrity and breaks at even modest grow.

🚨 High

2

$100K–$250K

Apps and systems are patched together with no integration; tracking and workflows are unreliable, increasing error rates as sales grow.

⚠️ Medium

3

$250K–$750K

Tech stack includes several tools, but they operate in silos with no unified visibility, forcing teams to constantly check, reconcile, and fix.

🚨 High

4

$750K–$2M

Tools are functional but fragmented across departments; lack of system integration leads to duplicated effort and inefficiencies.

⚠️ Medium

5

$2M–$5M+

Most tools are connected and workflows are automated, but grow requires ownership, governance, and optimization to stay sustainable.

✅ Stable

6

$5M–$10M+

ERP and supporting systems work in unison; data flows across operations with visibility and control, enabling confident decision-making.

✅ Stable

7

$10M–$50M+

Enterprise infrastructure with modular tools, role-based access, and documentation allows grow across markets without chaos.

✅ Stable


🌟 Final Thought


You don’t have a tech stack problem. You have a misalignment problem.


If your systems are 2–3 levels behind your sales, your backend will always be the bottleneck.


So ask yourself:

  • What level is my business operating at financially?

  • What level is my backend operating at technically?

  • What’s the cost of that gap?


Because the bigger the gap, the more growth hurts.


Need help mapping your backend to your revenue? Let’s build the infrastructure to match the business you’re becoming.

 
 
 

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