Seasonality of sales - a "brake" or an impulse for growth
Seasonality in business is one of the challenges that keeps entrepreneurs awake at night. In the world of startups, the pace of development is rarely linear. Even the best product or the most innovative service can encounter periods of increased sales and moments of almost complete downtime.
Non-linear development is one of the key challenges for young (and not only) technology companies. It has an impact, for example, on team work planning, operational activities, financial model development, financial liquidity, marketing strategy or the method and pace of scaling.
To get to know from the inside and better understand what business management looks like in the rhythm of seasonal fluctuations, we asked three companies from different market areas to comment: the creators of a startup dealing with debt trading, the founders of an app for organizing school trips, and the originators of a tool supporting the marketing of sports clubs.
They share experiences that show that seasonality does not have to be a difficulty, but on the contrary - it can be a source of competitive advantage and a time to build market stability.
Adapting processes to changing sales cycles
This is proven, among others, by the founders of BidFinance, operating in the financial sector. What does this challenge mean for the creators of this auction platform dedicated to the sale and purchase of debt portfolios?
Certainly, the need to adapt operational processes to changing supply and demand cycles, including, a.o. auction planning and scheduling, analysis and verification of data files (datatape), handling relationships with sellers and buyers, ensuring regulatory compliance (compliance, AML, GDPR), maintaining technological infrastructure on a continuous basis, as well as monitoring sales results to optimize market strategies. Financial institutions – including banks, loan companies, leasing companies and energy companies – issue portfolios in cycles depending, a.o. on the closure of reporting periods and the holiday season, which leads to periodic accumulation of transactions.
- We are observing clear cycles of market activity. There are times when multiple wallets appear on the platform at the same time, as well as slowdown phases. Our task is to ensure full technological and organizational readiness so that the sales process always runs smoothly – points out Yevgen Karastoyanov, CEO of BidFinance.
The repeatability of sales processes is the foundation of this company's operations. - As Piotr Szaciłło, Chief Revenue Officer, emphasizes: The transparent nature of online auctions and the standardization of procedures guarantee predictable results for sellers, regardless of the seasonality of the market. This, in turn, strengthens trust and fosters long-term cooperation with financial institutions.
Seasonality challenges can become an impulse for development – provided that the startup can translate them into a competitive advantage and stabilization of the market position. Therefore, during periods of the lowest market activity in BidFinance, founders consciously redirect resources to product and process development: they work on new types of auctions, introduce general UI/UX improvements to the platform, organize legal and regulatory issues, as well as raise the standards of cooperation with market participants. This allows Bid Finance's clients – both sellers and buyers – to trade even more efficiently and conveniently when market activity is picking up again.
Extra time for the development of sales support areas
Similarly, the example of Sportigio – a platform for better monetization of sports in digital – shows that less sales-intensive time allows for the development of other areas supporting development. For example, the summer months of 2025 were devoted to testing the new Camp functionality in this company. - We took advantage of the off-season period in our business to check how to improve and speed up the onboarding process - says Marcin Zwierzychowski, CoFounder of Sportigio.
Camp gives you a few things in terms of business: it helps you acquire leads and test the process of scalable onboarding in real conditions. It collects valuable knowledge and educational materials that can be used in subsequent seasons. And as a consequence, it helps build a community of satisfied users who become brand ambassadors.
- We have a well-developed product that is used by dozens of clubs every day. The challenge for us is an even faster growth in the number of clubs and users, and the greatest interest in the industry appears during the holiday season, between seasons. Then the activists are not in the rush of the league or competitions and have more space to implement novelties. This is the perfect moment to show the value of Sportigio and accelerate adoption - adds Mariusz Zwierzychowski, the second of Sportigio's co-founders.
Seasonality... a natural part of the business model
- Seasonality is a natural part of our business model - explains Krzysztof Januszewski, co-founder of Wycieczkomat, a company operating on the educational tourism market. - This is one of the reasons why it is crucial for us not to treat seasonality only as a limitation, but as an element that can be used to build an advantage.
High sales peaks – autumn and spring – are predictable, which is why the company plans them well in advance. - Early bookings allow us to guarantee access to the most desirable services (transport, accommodation, attractions), and at the same time spread the operational work over a longer period. Thanks to this, we avoid backlogs, and schools receive stable, well-coordinated service. - continues Krzysztof Januszewski - Seasonality is therefore inscribed in processes, treating it not as a problem, but as a natural rhythm of action.
The seasonality of business also has a huge impact on the financial area in the company and means the need to manage cash flows in a strategic way. Sales are focused on specific months, but thanks to advances and staggered payments, the company is able to "flatten" cash flow. In practice, this means that revenues come in more evenly, which stabilizes the model and allows you to invest in development even outside the peak season.
We also focus on diversifying our revenue sources – in calmer months, we intensively develop new functionalities, automations and additional products that strengthen our core business and give room for long-term growth. - explains Marcin Owczarczyk, CEO and co-founder of the company.
In the off-season, we invest in the development of both the team and the product itself. This is the moment when we test new technological solutions, build automations, improve school service processes and design subsequent modules of the platform. We also use this time to collect feedback from users and transfer it directly to the product roadmap. Thanks to this, we start each season better prepared, with a more powerful tool and more and more optimized processes. Seasonality therefore acts as a natural development cycle here: intensive sales are intertwined with a period of innovation and refinement of our solution.
The biggest challenge still remains managing operational overloads during peak season. The key is standardization and scalability – we design processes so that they are repeatable, transparent and can be handled with a growing number of customers. "Seasonality in this approach becomes an impulse for innovation ," says Marcin Owczarczyk, "it forces us to constantly improve tools, automate and build a flexible organizational structure. This allows us to grow faster than the market and respond to demand regardless of how concentrated it is in certain months.