Starting Small and Dreaming Big

When I first launched North Valley Precision, we were a small team with a big vision. There were only about 10 of us back then—tight-knit, scrappy, and wearing multiple hats. We worked long hours, made fast decisions, and leaned on each other to get the job done. Everyone knew what everyone else was doing. If something broke, we fixed it together. If a deadline loomed, we all stayed late.

Looking back, those early days taught me a lot. We learned how to operate with limited resources and how to build trust with our clients one project at a time. But as the company grew and the team expanded, I had to learn something new: how to scale.

Scaling from 10 to nearly 100 employees—especially in the high-stakes world of quality assurance—doesn’t just mean hiring more people. It means rethinking how the entire company operates. It means building systems, strengthening culture, and leading in a different way.

Letting Go to Grow

One of the hardest lessons I learned during our growth was letting go of control. When you’re small, you’re in every decision. You touch every project. You’re the final say on just about everything. But that kind of hands-on leadership doesn’t scale.

As we grew, I had to step back and trust the people I hired to make the right calls. That doesn’t mean I walked away or checked out—it means I had to become more intentional. I had to focus on hiring leaders, not just doers. I had to give them the tools and the autonomy to lead their own teams. And I had to be okay with the fact that they might not do things exactly the way I would.

That shift was tough at first, but it’s what allowed us to move faster and smarter. Today, our team runs more efficiently because leadership is spread throughout the company, not bottled up at the top.

Culture Can’t Be an Afterthought

When you’re growing quickly, it’s easy to focus on output—more clients, more revenue, more projects. But if you ignore culture, you’ll feel it. You’ll see it in turnover, in miscommunication, and in a breakdown of quality.

From the beginning, I knew we had to be intentional about our values. What does quality mean at North Valley Precision? What kind of people do we want to attract and keep? What do we expect from each other? These aren’t just mission statement buzzwords—they’re the foundation of how we work.

As our team grew, we built rituals to keep that culture strong. We hold regular all-hands meetings. We invest in training and mentorship. And we talk openly about what’s working and what’s not. That transparency keeps us aligned, even as new faces join the team.

It also builds pride. I’ve always said, we don’t just test—we build trust. That mindset has to be in every employee’s DNA. Culture isn’t what you say on a poster. It’s what people do when no one’s watching.

Process Drives Consistency

When we were 10 people, we could run things informally. A quick Slack message here, a hallway conversation there. But at 100 people, that kind of casual coordination doesn’t work. You need systems. You need structure. You need repeatable processes that make quality consistent, no matter who’s on the project.

That doesn’t mean building a rigid bureaucracy. It means documenting what works, training people well, and making it easy to do things the right way. We invested heavily in playbooks, onboarding programs, and QA automation frameworks to keep up with demand.

I’ve learned that a good process doesn’t slow you down—it speeds you up. It allows new hires to ramp quickly. It reduces errors. It gives our clients confidence that no matter who they work with at North Valley Precision, they’ll get the same high standard of service.

People Are Still the Core

No matter how big we get, it always comes back to people. Tools help. Systems help. But great people are the reason we’ve been able to grow without losing quality. Every person we hire needs to buy into the mission and bring something unique to the table.

When I think about what makes someone successful here, it’s not just technical skill—it’s mindset. We look for people who take ownership, who speak up, and who genuinely care about the work they’re doing. That matters even more in QA, where the details can make or break a launch.

Brandon Erickson from Wisconsin didn’t get here alone. This journey has been built by dozens of talented professionals who’ve trusted me, challenged me, and grown with me. As a leader, my job is to support them—to make sure they have what they need to succeed and feel like they’re part of something bigger.

Growth Isn’t the Goal—Excellence Is

Scaling to 100 employees is a milestone, but it’s not the finish line. What I’ve learned is that growth, for growth’s sake, doesn’t matter if you’re not getting better along the way. Every hire, every system, every decision should bring us closer to excellence—not just expansion.

At North Valley Precision, we’re not chasing size. We’re chasing impact. We want to be the most trusted QA partner in the industries we serve. We want our clients to feel like we’re an extension of their team. And we want our people to feel like they’re doing the best work of their careers.

Getting from 10 to 100 employees taught me how to build a company—not just a team. It taught me how to scale without losing sight of what matters. And most of all, it taught me that great companies aren’t built in sprints—they’re built with patience, intention, and people who care.