Much attention is paid to how entrepreneurs create an innovative product or service and bring it to market, pivoting quickly to solve financial and logistical challenges along the way. But after the start-up buzz wears off, owners must figure out how to scale their businesses for long-term, stable growth.

Rather than simply working harder, a new report suggests, second-stage companies should consider a different strategy to reach the middle market, incorporating five conditions that were compiled and tracked by TrueSpace, a consulting firm, and the analytics firm Gallup.

They looked at nearly 2,500 entrepreneurs in the United States over five years to create the model, which is geared toward businesses with $2 million to $10 million in annual revenue that are struggling to become midsize companies.

“After you get to this post-start-up phase, you have to fundamentally almost recreate the business,” said Joe Daly, senior partner at Gallup. “That’s what begins to create the conditions for the next leap in growth.”