Growth Framework

Growth Framework

StrategicVentureConsulting

The SVC Growth Framework has been developed and validated in software and IP-based industries, but the driving principles are relevant for any industry. Thanks for visiting. We welcome your feedback and comments.

2 SVC Growth Framework 0713a © StrategicVentureConsulting 2012-2-13 all rights reserved

ROI.

• Growth is about ROI – magnitude and timing. Growth other than profit growth can reduce company value.

• Risk/return profile of shareholders and investors determines growth goal and strategy boundaries. Discuss early & often.

Growth is risky, but no growth is riskier.


Delivered Values vs.

Competition

Market Offers vs.

Competition

Customer Needs

Time for Effective Action

Financial Resources

Team Strengths

& Weaknesses

Growth Framework Links External and Internal

Customer assessment, targeting, strategy

Benefits, Advantages, Functions, Features

Packaging, pricing, communications, partnerships

Assessment, training, recruiting

Business planning, risk assessment and management

Market Intelligence


Set Growth Targets

• How much growth can you afford?

• What is your risk/reward profile?

• What are the opportunity costs?

Investment Margin contribution

Time

$$

$

Financial Performance of Growth Initiative


Assess Customer Needs Trends

• Review “Lessons Learned.”

• Develop possible alternative growth initiative scenarios.

• Get close/r to target customers and explore detail assumptions. Validate and iterate

How “close” or “different” a new customer profile is from your current customer profile drives costs of understanding and delivering to their needs.


Assess Internal Assets and Liabilities

• Agree on industry/market KPIs and benchmarks

Product Development and Delivery

Marketing and Sales Enablement

Customer Success

Finance and Operations

• Review each function in context of Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat


Decide on a Growth Strategy

• Choose the one with the highest expected ROI consistent with risk/return guidelines and timeframe. Use discussion guides such as Lean Canvas business model approach.

Talking about “product” blurs an important distinction between promises (offers to the market that you can already fulfill) and fulfillment (value delivered to the market enabling new promises). Each market offer and value-delivered has its own risk/return profile; each needs to be evaluated and then aggregated in a practical initiative. Some growth initiatives do not require value-delivered changes, but all value-delivered changes should drive new or modified promises - market offers.


Develop Focused Business Plans

• Model each initiative over three investment phases: preparatory, delivery, sustaining

Itemize value deliverables, model investment

Itemize market offers, model investment

Itemize requirements on team including competencies and opportunity costs with current profit-producing initiatives

Establish success criteria, metrics and milestones

Qualify and quantify critical risks


Select and Execute Growth Initiative

• Compare risk/return profiles of alternative initiatives.

• Choose initiative and set go/no-go risk criteria.

• Periodically track and re-plan vs. goals and criteria.

Growth = Change Management. Better to have the whole team well coordinated to understand, drive and support a good initiative than have a disjointed team working on one or more perfect initiative/s.


Growth Failures

Delivered Values vs.

Competition

Market Offers vs.

Competition

Customer Needs

Time for Effective Action

Financial Resources

Team Strengths

& Weaknesses

Unclear target, not close enough to customers, assessment lacking rigor

Failure to deliver to need in quality, quantity or time

Unrealistic ROI goal, Changing market conditions

Misread of market

Misread of competitive strength/weakness, Team design problems

Under-estimate risk, change in committed financing


Keys to Reducing Growth Risk

• Systematic process integrating assessment, strategy, team development and execution to reach goals within company guidelines

• Sharp/er focus

• Simple/r plan

• Test, iterate and scale investments, especially fixed costs


How SVC Can Help

• Systematic approach to planning and executing growth initiatives for higher ROI at lower risk

Market

Product/Technology

Team/Skills

• Been-there, done-that experience base to anticipate problems instead of clean up after

• Hands-on capability to jumpstart, bridge and help fill key team roles


About SVC Bob Kimball developed SVC’s Growth Framework during his career as a software/internet, IP-based and Engineerd-Products executive. Starting as an electronic design engineer, Bob’s interests shifted to marketing and software based on his conviction that well-conceived and marketed software has the power to greatly improve the effectiveness of business and the quality of people’s daily lives. Bob received an MBA in Marketing from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business and a Product Management position at Hewlett-Packard and has been an avid continuing student of software and human behavior since. Bob’s experience and perspective on keys to successful growth derive from serving in roles including product manager, product line manager, marketing director, business director, VP Marketing, VP Sales and Marketing, VP Business Development, Chief Technology Officer, President and CEO in companies ranging from venture-backed early stage ventures to F1000 including Hewlett-Packard. Some of the results Bob has achieved by applying the principles underlying SVC’s Framework for Growth: • Increased software sales run-rate from $4MM to $16MM in three years and repositioned company to support sale • Reversed declining software business unit, growing sales from $20MM to $30MM in one year by focusing value

delivery and market offer together • Saved and rebuilt crash+burn software startup to profitability in 18 months, taking run rate from almost zero to

$5MM by focusing market offers and streamlining sales and service • Developed two strategic new product lines with small outsource team, one progressing from concept to delivery in

less than six months, leading to sale to pre-IPO company • Saved a failing venture backed software startup by changing market offer and reducing burn rate, achieving

profitability in nine months. • Doubled clean tech company sales from $4MM to $8MM in one year by focusing the strategy and the team • Saved venture-backed SaaS software company at nadir of dot-bust by improving value delivery and market offer

clarity

SVC Growth Framework 0112a © StrategicVentureConsulting 2012 all rights reserved 14

Contact

15 SVC Growth Framework 0112a © StrategicVentureConsulting 2012 all rights reserved

SVC is based in San Francisco, California.

Reach us by phone/txt: 415.504.2564 Email: [email protected]

Skype: robert_r_kimball

mailto:[email protected]