Small Business

Design habits of hypergrowth businesses

New study reveals how the fastest-growing companies are scaling creative content in 2025

Adobe Express

August 21, 2025

Summary

Want to know how the fastest-growing companies approach content creation? Adobe surveyed 1,000 US marketers at companies experiencing hypergrowth — defined as annual growth rates of 50% or more — to understand their creative and content strategies. Our study explores how these organizations, from small businesses to large enterprises, are investing in and scaling their design efforts.

Key takeaways

45% of marketers report that AI-driven content is a key content strategy trend for 2025.
Hypergrowth companies allocate 15% of their annual revenue to content creation.
One in four hypergrowth companies allocate 25% to 50% of their annual revenue to content creation.
Four in five hypergrowth companies report that creativity and design have been primary contributors to their rapid growth.
33% of hypergrowth businesses derive their total content output from repurposing existing assets.
37% use AI tools, 33% use analytics platforms, and 31% use social media scheduling tools as the most effective tools for scaling content production.

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The state of hypergrowth in 2025

Rapid growth companies are reshaping industry standards across sectors, with significant investments in AI content creation and customer retention strategies.

factors contributing to a company's hypergrowth

Two in five marketers identified their businesses as hypergrowth organizations, achieving annual growth rates of 50% or more. The tech industry had the most businesses experiencing hypergrowth, followed by marketing, manufacturing, retail, and arts/entertainment.

These high-performing companies showed a strong commitment to content creation, with three in four increasing their budgets in the past year and many leveraging content creation tools. While hypergrowth companies typically allocate 15% of annual revenue to content creation, one in four invested between 25% and 50% of their revenue in these efforts.

The path to hypergrowth has seen some changes since our previous study. The number of businesses citing loyal customers as a key growth factor rose from 25% to 41%. Customer retention programs emerged as a significant metric at 37%, while the importance of using AI technology increased from 19% to 32%.

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How hyper-growth companies scale design

Balancing creative output with rapid growth requires strategic use of tools and resources, while managing unique operational challenges.

tools and challenges that hypergrowth companies are facing

Four in five hypergrowth companies credited creativity and design as primary contributors to their rapid growth. A third of these businesses maximized their social media content creation by repurposing existing assets.

When scaling content production, companies relied on various tools to maintain efficiency. AI content creation tools led adoption at 37%, followed by analytics platforms at 33% and social media scheduling tools at 31%. Collaboration tools and graphic design platforms rounded out the top five at 30% and 28%, respectively.

Despite their success, hypergrowth businesses faced challenges. Quality control topped the list of concerns at 45%, while stress and burnout affected 40% of teams. Other key challenges included demand fulfillment (36%), tech adoption (32%), and process consistency (31%).

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The future of content and design teams

Hypergrowth companies are adapting their strategies and team structures to meet evolving content demands while maintaining a consistent brand voice.

content strategy trends

AI-driven content creation emerged as the leading trend that's shaping content strategy in 2025, with 45% of companies embracing this approach. Community-driven content and cross-platform content integration each had 30% adoption rates, while short-form video content (29%) and collaborative tools for remote and hybrid teams (28%) followed closely.

Looking ahead, companies are planning to prioritize specific team roles in the next five years. AI specialists topped hiring priorities at 57%, followed by creative writers and designers at 54% and strategists at 53%. Data scientists rounded out key roles at 38%.

Companies have also employed multiple approaches to maintain brand consistency during rapid scaling. Regular team training led these efforts at 49%, while AI tools for brand consistency checks reached 39% adoption. Comprehensive brand guidelines and regular content reviews each saw 37% implementation, with external agency collaboration at 31%.

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Design at speed

Our latest study offers valuable insights into scaling creative work at speed and more. Hypergrowth companies see the value in creative work, with 80% citing creativity and design as a primary key to their success. Their content production efforts are most often supported by AI content creation tools, analytics platforms, and social media scheduling tools.

The fastest-growing companies are able to balance speed with consistency by repurposing existing assets and leaning on AI and collaboration tools to streamline workflows. This approach enables them to scale content quickly without compromising quality or exhausting creative teams. Marketers have also predicted the top emerging trends will be AI-driven content, community-driven content, and cross-platform integration — only time will tell..

Methodology

Adobe surveyed 1,000 marketers in the US who worked in companies experiencing hypergrowth (annual percentage growth of 50% or more) in the past year. Among them, 58% were men, and 42% were women. The company size breakdown was as follows: 12% worked for micro businesses, 22% worked for small businesses, 29% for medium businesses, and 37% for large businesses.