How We Can Work Together
We spoke recently about ways to work together.
Please find below three options:
Market Development Discovery for New Market with Existing or New Product
US Strategy Advisor
Market Developmant-As-a-Service
Below each of these approaches are explained, including example deliverables, services and ROI.
Approach 1 - Discovery & Assessment
Typical execution: Enterprise segments, Ecosystem partners, Market/Product feedback, Growth stack
Adapt to new market while in flight and establish relationships with the best companies.
Validates product-market fit w strategic segments e.g., Telco, Finserv, Travel, Mfg, Entertainment, Retail/Ecommerce
Lays groundwork for big deals with strategic clients. e.g., Disney Interactive, Fidelity, United Airlines, BofA
Fitness for next funding round (30% increase in pre-money value during next round)
Cost: 50k package base + % of wins (lined up with sales team)
ROI: 20:1 value to cost ratio
Effort by existing team: Low to medium: 0% to 25% of their time.
Recommended resources: Junior marketing/content person (50%), evangelist/pre-sales solution expert (20%), XYZ FB/G/LI Ad spend, CPO (15%), CEO (10%), CCO (20%).
Duration: 5-6 months.
Approach 2 - Be Company’s “US Strategy Advisor” (non-execution)
Typical execution: Coach and editor on anything US Market Development & Product Positioning.
Roadmaps, thought leadership, product positioning, company brand.
Tune all prospect and customer touchpoints to (website, social channels, content plan, decks, data sheets, demos, videos, etc)
Can involve making introductions and discovery with specific industry leaders, advisors and investors.
Cost: 3.75k p/m + % of wins for min 6 months (can go 18 ms to three years).
ROI: 10:1 value to cost ratio, with 50% bumps after 12 and 24 ms
Effort by existing team: Low to medium: 0% to 25% of their time.
Approach 3 - Ongoing: Market-Dev-As-a-Service (MDAS) - Typical duration: 18 ms
Typical execution: New Market, Great Existing Solution but GTM not 100% defined, with tactics, tools and team.
Begins similar to Approach 1, Market Development Discovery
Key is to continue to 'remove barriers to growth' by focusing on areas like Flagship Revenue, Growth inbound, Growth outbound, Product positioning/diversification, Growth stack, Growth workflow, Partnerships, Fundraising
Add shareholder value faster and earlier, broader set of exit options. E.g., Q-go NLP in Amsterdam, azeti.
Cases: Q-go (NLP exit 35m, 1.5b), azeti (exit), Hippo (ML segmentation exit) did it this way. They saw 50:1 returns via strategic revenue, tactics, tools.
Cost: TBD. This begins with Market Discovery, and continues m/m
ROI: 50:1 value to cost ratio
Effort by existing team: Medium
Unique Selling Points
We use patterns from 25+ AI application companies and 200+ Lab alumni from Europe, US and Japan.
We utilize industry advisors with 20+ years in Digital leadership roles at Wells Fargo, Aerbus, Daimler, Kohl's, Autodesk, Samsung, Adobe, ServiceNow, Harvard Medical School, UC Berkeley and the European Leadership University.
We have great relationships with affinity networks.
The approach is straight forward
Reach out to experienced Execs who are open, and influential.
Ask relevant qs. Share relevant knowledge.
Aggregate findings. Discuss internally. Adapt.
Share the learnings -- w sales, marketing, products, partnerships, care.
Each cycle things get clearer.
Plus, serendipity works. Cap-tables improve for founders and shareholders. And exit possibilities are unlocked.
Phase 1 Deliverables: Examples
Phase 1 - Typical Deliverables
Between 20 to 2000 Target companies in Geo X, Segment Y; engaged with 20+
Raw notes from meetings - Discovery Qs defined together
Conclusions and Recommendations on GTM strategy (potential areas below)
Product feedback and positioning
Marketing feedback for content roadmap, website and channels
Flagship clients raw feedback
Growth tech stack, workflow and augmenting the team
Partner ecosystem map
AI and data science company strategy & talent strategy
Customer/Prospect Data Lake & workflow scoped out
Market Dev Mini-Workshop - Scope was ABC -- We did ABC and ROI was XYZ
Optional: Showcase at Growth 2.0 Lab. Session attendees from Growth 2.0 Lab
Ecosystem Mapping of US & EMEA. Use Affinity Networks
Industry Prospect network - Access networks of networks like Execs from 10 Labs (every year since 2013) and Berkeley or Ivy League
Partner network - Map out partner segments, outreach, engage, enable (e.g., Cisco, Accenture, Razorfish)
Acquisition network - Map out future acquisition segments, understand product roadmap implications and how to add value early
Investor network - Unlimited networking with the Corporate VC Club Tech Tour Execs & Investors anytime in 2021
Peer network - Meet and discuss challenges with other AI and ML entrepreneurs, industry experts, advisors
Example of Six month controlled process for learning in new markets
Month 0 - Start-project: Identify companies, roles, segments in geography X, segment Y, role Z
Month 2.5 - Checkpoint: project - 50 engaged, 2ndary market research. Tactical insights gathered & collateral shared
Month 5 - Checkpoint: project - 20 calls/meetings, tool insights gathered (inc Machine Learning/AI) & Readiness Report
Month 6 - End-project: tactics, tools, networks. Phase 1 re-freeze practices; Phase 2 un-freeze
Month 7 - 18 - tbd.: Increase compounded growth rate, minimum 40-50% y/y growth (depending on mgmt goal)
MDAS Services: Ongoing Menu
Phase 1 - Typical Execution
Enterprise Segment - Engage your industry segment in new market/geo
Ecosystem Partner groundwork - Ecosystem assessment, strategic partner acquisition & enablement
Growth feedback - Segment feedback thru discovery meetings with specific companies in important geography
Product feedback - Assess Product-market fit, positioning & differentiation in a market.
Marketing feedback - Identify gaps in content marketing for enterprise or mid-market customers in different geographies
Growth stack, workflow & team feedback - Review and recommendations on Growth 2.0 tools/techniques/services
"Unfreeze" and "Refreeze" tactics, process and toolsets
Ongoing - Typical Advisory activities
Coaching - Mission, vision and goals for individuals & teams. 30-60-90 day plan coaching. 18 month global leadership coaching.
Outward Materials - Positioning & 'review' of touchpoints like website, social channels, data sheets, pitch decks, marketing materials, partner agreements
Internal Materials - Content roadmaps, Sales plans, proformas, financials, term sheets, contracts...
Value added AI/ML Projects, Tools, Tactics
Specialized projects that remove barriers to growth
Develop team - Team and personal development & online reputation management
Growth 2.0 Labs for thought leadership
Ongoing - Market Development-as-a-Service
Growth outbound - Use AB testing approach to new markets. Develop high performing outbound acquisition engine. Flagship client acquisition in a geography or segment
Growth inbound - Review all touchpoints from Exec pov. Fill content gaps for Execs in new geographies
Growth partner - Identify, engage and enable
AI product "diversification" - feedback & diversification roadmap options. AIML strategy, product development roadmap
Growth stack - Use of Machine Learning for lead gen, with both inbound & outbound power. Recommend & train on growth stack for team adoption of best approach to smart growth.
Growth workflow - Define BDR, AE, marketing blueprint - growth practices including inside sales team (contractors or hires)
Outreach to relevant investors, power evangelists, advisors, board members
Potential ROI - Cases and Partners
Compounded growth
Multiples (10x) valuation on revenue acquired. Compound. Establish itself as a global category leader.
Case example: Rightnow Technologies 50%+ growth y/y <18 ms - e.g., add NLP to portfolio for 2nd fastest growing company in US.
General ROI
Deliver 20:1 ROI. Can uplevel growth by 5% to 15% in Year 1 - measured in revenue, effectiveness.
Case example 1: Q-go <6 months - e.g., 500k ARR strategic revenues in five months or done 50 accounts
Case example 2: Azeti <9 months - e.g., Strategic partnership which trigger fundraising, and eventual exit
Case example 2: Hippo (acq. Bloomreach) <18 ms - e.g., manage big brands
Marketing ROI
Each department KPIs for their functional goals.
Higher impact campaigns. Relevant content.
Enable new patterns for inbound/outbound
Tune touchpoints to (website, social channels, content plan, decks, data sheets, demos, videos, etc)
BD and Sales
Growth deal sizes.
Win strategic clients.
Shorter cycles. Improved positioning
Investors and Shareholders
More shareholder value and earlier.
Set of exit options.
Fitness for next funding round.
Management team
Clarity on why it is worth it
What is the opportunity
What are the best roads to grow
Products
Validates product-market fit w strategic segments
Product differentiation
Thought leadership (speaking, videos, blogs, whitepapers, case studies)
Functional ROI
Each department KPIs for their functional goals.
More About Us
Who We Are:
Global Venture Advisors has been doing B2B growth since 2013. We have 10+ years analyzing patterns growth leaders use to create shareholder value. Our Founding Partner has been doing SaaS enterprise since 2000, when he co-founded & led products at aravo.com.
What We Do:
Accelerate growth in EMEA, US & Asia with Market Development advisory & As-a-Service (MDAS). We have done 25+ such engagements with AI application companies including European, US and Japanese companies in the 20 to 2,000 emp range.
Global Venture Advisors (GVA) was started in 2013 to help tech firms grow revenues in strategic markets. GVA does year-round Market Discovery & Market Development-As-a-Service (MDAS) with elite entrepreneurs. Speciality is in AI applications, ML platforms & SaaS/IoT data services.
Why We Do It:
Growth strategies are critical for entrepreneurs today. Challenge facing entrepreneurs: since 2014 the success rates of growth teams has decreased nearly four fold -- as Executives on both sides are overwhelmed by automation and the "noise" in market. Pandemic has increased reliance on remote sales and marketing - and companies are more disconnected than ever. In addition, GDPR laws in Europe and increasingly in US like California and a dozen states following their lead. B2B companies that invest properly in their growth, to remove barriers to growth before their team hits them, will be the winners.
How We Do It:
We focus on market development execution and advisory using enterprise market patterns.
What Is the Benefit:
Tech firms that can develop a well managed growth engine and global product-market fit see a 10:1 valuation boost vs. strategic revenue. Even smaller companies start to combine human knowledge and networks, with Machine Learning as a differentiator for the business (Cognism, Teradata, Algolytics good examples from the 10th Growth 2.0 Lab last month).