I remember hearing Bill Clinton during his campaign in 1992 say, “growing the economy.” I think that was the first time I heard such a use of “grow,” and so was kind of used to it when people started saying “grow a business.” At first it bothered me, but now I think it makes sense when compared to a plant that flourishes. But it did occur to me that we probably wouldn’t say, in response to “How many children do you have?”—- “I’ve grown four of the little tykes!”

I agree with felixblackcat - while I often find business “newspeak” terms grating, “growing” a business I think I could, well, grow to accept. Why? Because I think it can sometimes be helpful to suggest the organic growth metaphor instead of the more common terms of “expanding” or “building (up)” one’s business (I had not thought of scaling up, but ultimately none of these terms is any more specific a to what it specifically entails - that will vary from one business to the next). Whereas current theory is that any business, company or even economy that does not grow will die, it is worth remembering that to try to expand too aggressively can lead to disaster. Those who write how-to books on growing your business may be suggesting that it is something you need to do gradually, gently, working to support the conditions for growth - as Grant also suggested - rather than thinking you can just command it to become very large in leaps and bounds.

Another thought: I would much prefer “growing a business” to “growing a company”. Anyone else with me on this? Because business is an activity as much as it is a “thing”, whereas a company is simply the entity, and therefore I find an organic metaphor applied to it more jarring.