In 1996, my father decided to bring Quinton to Spain and invited his children to be part of the project. There were three of us. We were literally working in the hallways of the apartment where we had grown up, with more enthusiasm than resources and with an enormous belief in what we were doing. Today we are a group of companies and a team of 77 people.
Told like that, it seems straightforward. It wasn’t. It has been an exciting journey, yes… but full of falls. And of learning, again and again, to pick ourselves up.
When someone asks me what it feels like to spend 30 years in the same company, I always say the same thing: I never felt like I was in the same place. The company changed. The team changed. My job changed. And I changed with them.
Along the way we’ve learned a few things that might help someone who’s growing their small business today. Staying isn’t about staying still. It’s about continuing to grow, with people, in the same direction.
Professionalizing without losing the essence
In a microbusiness there are no departments. There are people who do everything. The same person handles an order, reconciles an invoice, replies to a client, and checks that the warehouse is in order. Often without realizing that, in reality, they are doing logistics, accounting, or compliance.
And every small business builds its culture almost without realizing it. It isn’t written anywhere. You notice it in how people speak, in how a problem is solved, in how newcomers are welcomed.
From the start, we had one clear thing: we wanted a project that grew holistically, with people and health at the center. At the time we didn’t call it that. It simply made sense to us.
As the project becomes solid and grows, something obvious happens: goodwill from a few who do everything is no longer enough. Growth forces professionalization. And it’s dizzying, because organizing the house may seem to make it less intimate.
We’ve learned the opposite. Professionalizing is not bureaucratizing; it’s giving the company the structure it needs to keep growing… without losing what made it special from the start.
Learning to let go
My own journey is a reflection of that. For years I was in the Finance and HR area, supporting the company’s evolution from a more structural perspective. Until there came a moment when I had to choose—and I chose the people.
That’s when I understood that growth also means learning to let go. In a small company, delegating is hard. The person who has been there from the start knows every detail and feels that no one will take care of it the same. But wanting to keep doing everything eventually stops being a strength. It becomes a limit.
Delegating requires humility: recognizing that others may know more, do it better, or give the attention you can no longer give. And it takes nothing away. On the contrary… it allows each person to contribute their best and move forward with purpose.
Regulations: from knot to opportunity
There is something every SME leader knows well. Standards, laws, and decrees are one of the toughest knots. Not for lack of will, but for lack of time, hands, and specialized people.
We lived it too. Prevention (occupational safety), equality, data protection, quality… every new obligation arrived with the feeling that we wouldn’t keep up.
Over the years we learned to change the question. It wasn’t just what we had to do to comply, but how we could use it to make the company better. If you want to grow with purpose, you don’t settle for compliance. You pursue excellence and quality.
The rule sets the minimum. Values set how far you want to go.
Getting out of your own plot
If I had to pick one lesson, it would be this: you have to step out of your comfort zone. Step outside the company. Let yourself be carried away in search of good practices and examples from others.
I like to picture it as a big garden. Each company tends its own plot. If you only look at yours, your vision is narrow. But when you peep at those around you, you discover how others cultivate their best fruit. What they water, what they prune, what they protect when the weather turns bad. And you return to your plot with new ideas and with the humility to know that someone is always doing it differently… and, sometimes, better.
We experienced this with work-family reconciliation. Externally, listening to other organizations, we discovered the EFR model of a family-responsible business. We returned to our plot with that seed, tended it for years, and today we are an excellent EFR company in reconciliation and well-being. If we had stayed focused only on our own matters, it probably would never have happened.
That’s why we also like to open up our plot and share what we’ve learned. The garden grows when it’s shared.
Mistakes Build Too
None of this has been perfect. We have fallen many times. We have doubted, erred, and had to make tough decisions. Life, moreover, tested us when, being very young, we had to take on responsibilities for which no one is truly prepared.
But from every fall came something: learning. Correcting. Doing better the next time. A growing small business isn’t the one that never errs, but the one that learns from each fall. Because experience isn’t about accumulating years. It’s about turning lived moments into judgment.
Building with values
Above all, one idea stays with me: you can grow without losing your soul, as long as you build with values.
Transparency, so no one has to guess what’s going on. Trust, because without it delegation isn’t possible. Responsibility and commitment, which in a small business aren’t imposed; they’re contagious. Happiness, which isn’t a soft word but the condition for people to give their best. And common sense and prudence, probably the least recognized yet the most necessary values.
They aren’t words to hang on a wall. They show up in small decisions: how a change is communicated, how you support someone during a tough moment, how you welcome a newcomer, how credit is shared when things go well.
What we know today
Thirty years later, I still believe the true value of an organization isn’t in its numbers. It lies in its history and in the people who make it possible.
To someone starting today with three people in a hallway, I would tell them not to rush to look big. They should nurture what makes them unique. Professionalize without losing closeness and without forgetting the name of the person next to you. And when the project starts to weigh on you, don’t carry it alone: delegate, look outward, allow yourself to make mistakes, and never give up your values.
Because remaining isn’t about staying still. It’s about continuing to grow, with people, in the same direction.
Cecilia Coll Sánchez, People with Values, Quinton Biotech Labs.
