Practical sessions for scaling companies that want their teams to move faster — not fragment

*In partnership with Epicenter Helsinki

As companies grow, teams rarely struggle because of strategy.

They struggle because the ways of working that worked at 8 people stop working at 30 or 80:

• Communication gets misread.

• Decisions slow down.

• Ownership becomes unclear.

• Participation becomes uneven.

• Urgency becomes constant.

This series of 90-minute clinics introduce practical frameworks that help teams stay coordinated as complexity increases.

Each stand-alone session focuses on one common scaling challenge and provides tools you can apply immediately.

Join Any Session — No Long-Term Commitment

This is not a course you have to commit to.

Each clinic is stand-alone.

You can join the sessions that are most relevant for your team right now.

Most participants attend 1–3 sessions depending on the challenges they’re navigating.

Common Scaling Friction We Address

If your company is growing, you may already be seeing things like:

• Decisions taking longer than they used to

• Communication misunderstandings across roles or cultures

• Founders becoming decision bottlenecks

• Friction between functions (product, engineering, operations)

• Senior hires struggling to integrate into the team

• Increasing pressure and overload

These problems are normal consequences of growth.

But when teams don’t make their ways of working explicit, these small coordination issues compound and quietly slow execution.

The companies that scale well aren’t the ones with perfect culture.

They’re the ones that design how their teams work as complexity increases.

What You’ll Leave With From a Single Clinic

Each session provides practical tools you can immediately test with your team.

Participants typically leave with:

• A framework to diagnose a specific team friction point

• Clear language to discuss collaboration problems without blame

• One concrete adjustment you can apply immediately

• Early warning signals that scaling coordination is breaking down

Upcoming Clinic Topics

Each week focuses on a different coordination challenge in growing teams. Featured topics in this series include:

Decision-Making & Alignment

How growing teams debate, decide, and commit.

Ownership

Avoiding decision bottlenecks and duplicated work.

Participation

Ensuring the right voices shape decisions as teams scale.

Capacity & Sustainability

Preventing overload and burnout during growth.

Together these modules help teams make their ways of working explicit so growth doesn’t erode speed, trust, or execution.

Who This Is For

These clinics are designed for people responsible for how teams function, not just what they produce.

Most participants are:

• Founders preparing their team to scale

• Startup operators responsible for coordination across teams

• Team leads navigating international or distributed collaboration

• Companies preparing for hiring, funding, or rapid growth

Format

Weekly open clinics at Epicenter Helsinki

Fridays 9:30 – 11:00

Each session is interactive and designed for discussion and practical application.

After the clinic:

Optional 1:1 advisory sessions available on-site 11:30 – 15:30

These sessions allow founders or teams to apply the frameworks directly to their own situation.

Price

€95 per session

or

€795 for full access to the 10-week series

*Epicenter members and invited guests may apply a discount code at checkout.

Why UPWARD

UPWARD is led by Laura Smith, an organizational researcher and advisor who has spent more than eight years researching and adapting collaboration patterns in scaling and international companies.

This work emerged from observing the same coordination problems appear again and again across different organizations — regardless of industry or geography.

UPWARD translates those recurring issues into practical frameworks teams can use before they become systemic problems.

Try a Clinic

You don’t need to commit to the full series.

Start with the session that feels most relevant to your team’s current challenges.

You can can join for as many or as a few sessions as relevant for your team.

Find the current course description and schedule below to find the clinics most relevant for you.