strategic planning for startups: how to do more with less
TRANSCRIPT
Strategic Planning For Startups
How to do more with less
What are you trying to do?
To gain customers, to grow revenues, to either exit by acquisition or continue growth trajectory.
What’s next?Planning can help with the daily tasks to get you where
you want to go.
Today’s objectives• Providing advice in establishing long-term goals
• Defining vision, mission and values of organization
• Providing input on the critical strategic issues and the proposed strategic direction
• Engaging in what will be accomplished, not how to achieve the results
What are your biggest challenges working with
your team?
An Exercise
What game is your team playing?
Who am I
Principal consultant at SME Strategy
We work with the management teams of SME’s to assess and improve their strategies.
I like soccer, scotch, and puns.
Connect with me: @anthonyctaylor
Objectives for todayBest practices in: • How to best establish/determine long term goals
• Defining vision, mission and values.
• Proving input on key issues relating to strategic direction
• Focusing on objectives and not tactics.
When does the planning process begin?
During team meetings?
During an strategy sessions?
At Start up?
Who decides the direction?
(Some of the)Things you need to worry about• Burn Rate• Product market fit• Customer Acquisition• Hiring Talent• Customer retention• Attracting investment• Office space/managing growth• Pitching, marketing and sales• Improving your product• Culture• IP/Legal• Investor relations
What are the most important things you should be doing?
Why do strategic planning?• To better allocate resources• To focus on specific initiatives• To create better focus in your organization• To create better alignment within your
organization• To change the direction of your organization• To deal with competitors• To merge companies together
Building towards the strategic plan
How did we get to where we are now?
How did we get here• Results from the last plan.
• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• How did we do over all?
What’s going on in the world around us?And what does it mean to our business?
InputsPESTLE• POLITICAL,• ECONOMICAL,• SOCIETAL,• TECHNOLOGICAL,• LEGAL,• ENVIRONMENTAL
External forces
What’s the state of the company?
Inputs
o SWOT• STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES,OPPORTUNITIES, THREATS
o Ie: Funding environment, competition, etc.
• Stakeholder and management team inputs.
My questions
• What do we do well?
• Where can we improve?
• What changes would we like to see?
Anthony C Taylor- SME Strategy 25
What is (your) business?
• Core Competencies • What are you good
at?• ______________• ______________• ______________• ______________
#IMMCYC
Anthony C Taylor- SME Strategy 26
What is (your) business?
• Core Competencies • What are you good
at?• _______________• _______________• _______________• _______________
• Competitive advantage
• What are you better at compared to everyone else?
• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________
#IMMCYC
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Competitive advantages cont’Will this:• Increase revs/decrease costs?• Are there any unusual skills that are needed to
execute this strategy?• Will it take competitors significant time to
imitate?• What’s the advantage potential?
#IMMCYC Anthony C Taylor- SME Strategy
Anthony C Taylor- SME Strategy 28
Competitive advantage cont’
• VIRO• Valuable• Imitable• Rare• Organization- Is the
firm organized to implement the strategy.
• Valuable strategies are table stakes (ante)
• Valuable and hard to imitate will be short term advantage
• Valuable, rare and hard to imitate will result in long term advantage.
#IMMCYC
The strategic planning process
How do we get there?
VisionMission
Objectives/Goals
Strategies
Tactics
VisionWhere do we want to be at some point in the future?
Vision
• Where are we going?
• Why should we go there?
• What is winning?
If success was a place, how would we know if
we got there?
Creating a vivid visionAnd getting agreement on it.
Vision• Get your team to describe their vision of the
organization as clearly and vividly as possible.
• What do operations look like?• What do staff look like?• What do clients look like?• How else does your organization look different?
• Like a blueprint for a house, you build the design.
MissionHow are we going to get there?
What do we do?Who do we do it for?
Mission• How do you accomplish your vision?
• What is your purpose?
• Who is your core customer?• What do you do for them?
• What differentiates your value from your competition?
Anthony C Taylor- SME Strategy 39
Do you understand your customers?• What are the
Alternatives for your customer?
• Cost• Time• Work for the buyer• Warranty• Risk
• Eg:
• What is your customers’ thought process in regards to your product?
• How do they buy it?• When do they buy it?• How do they find out
about it?
#IMMCYC
What is the most important factor to a companies success?
According to successful tech entrepreneurs and VC’s?
Values
Values• What is in the DNA of your organization?
• What do you value?
• What are the cultures and norms or your organization?
Organizational values |Guiding principles.
• Values and behaviors are: “The way we do things around here.”
• What negative behaviors might be addressed with a statement of values?
• To what degree do the stated values differ from actual behavior?
VisionMission
Objectives/Goals
Strategies
Tactics
Goals and objectives
Goals and objectives
• Goals are generic themes that support the accomplishing the mission
• Objectives are specific and measurable that contribute to moving the needle on the goals.o Eg: Moving from X to Y by Date.
• Strategies and tactics are done at the implementation level to accomplish the objective.
Strategic intent• Headlines or themes for how you will execute
your strategy.
• Broadly specific areas of focus.
• Makes it easy to communicate, and focuses action.
o “Think of new years resolutions”
MISSION
VISION What is going to move the needle on
the vision?
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND INITIATIVES
GOAL 1
GOAL 2 GOAL 3
Your organization’s vision:
Our purpose….
What is going to move your organization closer
to your vision?
Setting goals 3-5 year goals
1 year goals
Quarterly goals
Cascading goals• Creating different goals for:
• The organization• The business Unit• The individual
Top 5 and top 1 of 5• What are your top 5 priorities for the Quarter?
• Of those top 5 priorities, which is the top priority?
• Make significant progress on a few initiatives vs. incremental progress on many initiatives.
KPI’s
• How do you measure success?
• What key ratios exist in your business?
• What is the most important ratio/measure in your business?
Focusing on objectives and not tactics.
Other parts of the planning process
Success drivers
Big Picture vs. Practical application
Constraints• Time
• Budgets
• Human Resources
• Technology
• Other Constraints?
People• Who are the key people in the organization that
are responsible for functional areas?
• Where are the gaps as far as key functions?
• Are there people responsible for more than one area?
• Help them do more by focusing on fewer areas
Communicating the plan• How are you going to share this strategic plan
with your organization?
• Keep in mind that different people absorb information in different ways:o Wordso Audioo Pictures
Potential RisksWhat is going to try and get in our way?
How to stop it?What needs to be addressed?
Risks• What uncertainty exists in our organization?
• What are the impacts of that uncertainty (risk)
• What is the likelihood of that happening?
• What can we do to mitigate that risk?
Risks
Risk Impact
Ris
k Li
kelih
ood
Low Moderate High
Low
M
oder
ate
H
igh
Cash flow planning
Cash flow planning
Communication and Alignment
Functional Management
It’s all about alignment.
When the rubber hits the road
You need to align and execute
