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Published February 15, 2024 at 10:30 AM

Biggest Business Challenges: New Research Data for 2026

8 min read
Biggest Business Challenges: New Research Data for 2026
5:18
8 min read
Biggest Business Challenges: New Research Data for 2026
5:18

Key Takeaways

  • Rhythm's research with its community of YPO members, entrepreneurs of the year, and fast-growth companies found that the biggest business challenges fall into three major categories: People, Execution, and Strategy.
  • People challenges include leadership, performance, employee engagement, high-performance culture, and hiring and retention; Execution covers implementing strategies, completing projects, measuring KPIs, and establishing processes; Strategy covers growth, strategic planning, M&A, funding, and scaling.
  • Challenges shift as companies grow: companies under $1 million struggle with basic accountable leadership skills and systems, while $10 to 25 million companies wrestle with executing strategic plans and visibility.
  • At $100 to 250 million, the top problem is poor execution, not a lack of ideas but "finding where to eat from the buffet of opportunity," and at $250 to 500 million it's firefighting, concentrating on the urgent instead of the important.
  • Rhythm's consultants have turned 17 years of insights from working with companies of every size into a proven playbook for growing from $5 to $10 million, $10 million to $100 million, and beyond.
Over the last few years, we've been collecting data from our Rhythm community - including YPO members,  entrepreneurs of the year, and fast-growth companies - on their biggest business challenges. We are always interested in understanding what keeps our CEOs up at night so we can better help them navigate challenges and avoid failure. As I analyzed hundreds of meaningful responses, the answers fell into a few major categories: People (leadership, performance, employee engagement, high-performance culture, hiring & retention); Execution (implementing strategies, completing projects, measuring KPIs, establishing processes and systems); and Strategy (growth, strategic planning, M&A, funding, scaling).
 

 

Biggest Business Challenges in 2026

Biggest Business Challenges by Category

Our team looked at the data a few ways. I did a card sort to figure out the themes and categories, and we analyzed the company's revenue bands, as well, to determine where larger companies may be struggling in different areas than smaller ones. Here's how the biggest business challenge categories above break out into the most popular themes:

 

Biggest Business Challenge: People 

PEOPLE category

 

Biggest Business Challenge: Execution

EXECUTION category

 

Biggest Business Problem: Strategy

STRATEGY category
 
When we analyzed the responses broken down by revenue bands, we found some patterns that kept coming up in the data:
 

Revenue Range <$1 million: 

Revenue Range $1-5 million:

  • Growth
  • Managing growth
  • Pipeline growth
  • Scaling Up Your Business
  • Efficiency
  • Building a team, working together, team management
  • Culture of Execution and Alignment
  • Measuring Performance and Productivity  

Revenue Range $5-10 million:

  • Getting leads, pipeline, getting clients, customer acquisition
  • OKR goal tracking, KPI setup, and measurement
  • Lack of strategic plan
  • Strategy execution, execution of strategic goals 
  • Performance management
  • Growth 

Revenue Range $10-25

  • Managing strategic initiatives, executing strategic plans, delivering annual plans, executing our Strategy
  • Visibility
  • Planning
  • Tracking initiatives 

Revenue Range $25-50 million:

  • Managing operational and financial guarantees, driving growth, consistent delivery
  • Missing numbers and deadlines
  • Creating a strategic, functional structure
  • Cascading Strategy down multiple areas, tying individual activities to overarching goals, aligning projects to strategic planning and goals
  • Accountability  

Revenue Range $50-100 million:

  • Growth
  • Team dynamics, alignment
  • Lack of accountability, departmental silos, disciplined employees
  • Communication across multiple departments related to specific initiatives 

Revenue Range $100-250 million:

  • Poor execution. It isn't the lack of ideas but finding where to eat from the buffet of opportunity.
  • Keeping 3–5-year strategic plans live and active, tracking strategic plans throughout the year ( 3 year plan template PDF)
  • Motivating staff, engagement
  • Cross-functional team alignment
  • Improving weekly meetings
  • Spreadsheets not effective
  • Tracking KPIs and goals
  • Coordination, continuous improvement 
  • Simple systems, clarity 

Revenue Range $250-500 Million: 

  • Firefighting.  Concentrating on the urgent instead of the important.
  • Performance management
  • Execution, putting a plan in place
  • Role clarity and job scorecards 

Revenue Range Over $500 Million

  • Translate Strategy to operational, flow corporate Strategy to the subsidiary manager and department heads, tracking the same, 
  • Align company goals and teams
  • Accountability, lack of consequence management
  • Facilitation, building strategic plan and exit
  • Operational organization, getting organized
As you read this list, many of these challenges resonate with you as a business leader. Companies of every size wonder how to grow their business to the next level with the right Strategy, processes, people, and tools to manage that growth effectively. It can be comforting to know that you're not alone and even more enjoyable to know that our experts have helped leaders successfully navigate all these challenges and more!
 
Our consultants have turned their insights from working with companies of every size and industry over the last 17 years into a proven playbook to help companies grow from $5 to $10 Million and $10 Million to $100 Million, and even $1 billion you can join our list of unicorns. Not only do they have great tips and tricks to share, but we also have the most robust and easy-to-use strategy execution software platform on the market to help you turn your insights into action and ensure your growth strategies come to life in your company. 
 
Suppose you are ready to stop staying nights worrying about the hundreds of challenges your business could face at any moment. In that case,  our experts are prepared to help you tackle your business challenges, whatever they may be.
 

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the biggest challenges businesses face?

Based on Rhythm's research with hundreds of CEOs and fast-growth companies, the biggest challenges fall into three categories: People (leadership, performance, employee engagement, culture, hiring and retention), Execution (implementing strategies, completing projects, measuring KPIs, establishing processes and systems), and Strategy (growth, strategic planning, M&A, funding, and scaling).

Do business challenges change as a company grows?

Yes. The data shows clear patterns by revenue band. Companies under $1 million struggle with basic accountable leadership, systems, and cash flow. Mid-range companies focus on pipeline growth, scaling, and strategy execution. Larger companies fight departmental silos, cross-functional alignment, and cascading strategy down through the organization.

What challenges do small businesses face?

Companies under $1 million in revenue most often cite basic accountable leadership skills, systems and processes, measuring a balanced scorecard of KPIs, defining strategy, cash flow and profitability, change management, and engaging talent. In the $1 to 5 million range, the focus shifts to managing growth, building a team, and creating a culture of execution and alignment.

What challenges do large companies face?

Companies in the $100 to 250 million range cite poor execution as the top issue, not a lack of ideas but choosing where to focus from a buffet of opportunity, along with keeping 3 to 5 year strategic plans live and active. At $250 to 500 million the pattern is firefighting, concentrating on the urgent instead of the important. Above $500 million, the challenges center on translating strategy to operations across subsidiaries and departments, accountability, and retaining talent.

Where did this business challenges data come from?

Rhythm Systems collected responses over several years from its community, including YPO members, entrepreneurs of the year, and fast-growth companies. Hundreds of meaningful responses were card-sorted into themes and categories, then analyzed by revenue band to see where larger companies struggle differently than smaller ones.
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Jessica Wishart
Jessica is Senior Product Manager at Rhythm Systems. She has experience in Client Services and Rhythm software technical support. Her background is in Organizational Execution.
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