Next to the cold hard numbers that represent your profitability, the most important factors in any business are the people. Aligning yourself with the most favorable partners, hiring the right employees, retaining the best contractors, and maintaining all of those relationships simultaneously to the best of your ability are all crucial to your overall success.
Learning when it is time to let any less-than-effective, risky, or difficult stakeholders go is equally important. Your goal is to have the right number of the right people who are properly motivated and organized at each point of your corporate ascent.