how we think
Value Creation Methodology (VCM)
Everything you do is intended to create value. For customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders. But value can easily leak away if all the elements of the business are not individually well-tuned and aligned to a common purpose. What works today may not work tomorrow; and while planning for the future, you need to ensure you're always ready for the strategic opportunities that may present themselves right now.
Our Value Creation Methodology (VCM) is a holistic framework for technology businesses. We believe that value is a function of opportunity - and of risk. So our methodology provides a comprehensive assessment of how you can develop the opportunity - whether your organisation is ready to execute on it - and the potential risks that need mitigation.
The model validates the connectivity between your market, your products, your customer acquisition process and customer loyalty. It cross checks that your organisation is acting as a whole and not as a series of stovepipes. It identifies where costs are piling up and margins are being eroded. It helps you identify and plan the adjustments that will keep your systems, process and metrics watertight. Ultimately it helps everyone align on the same vision, visualise how they'll execute on it, and know when they're being successful.
What we look for
Product Performance
Opportunity Expansion
Customer Acquisition
Product value is determined by more than core functionality. The customer requires the "whole product" to benefit: the ecosystem integrations, the training, the localisation support. The lifetime value of the customer is determined by keeping the product relevant and extending that value across the organisation. The revenue opportunity will be enhanced by extending the applicability of the product - or applying the same functionality to adjacent markets. A well structured product roadmap process will help maintain the right balance between responding to existing customers, winning new ones, adjacent market strategies, and dealing with technical debt. The ProductSpring team can help you establish the right structure and process to optimise your product development investment.
Customer Acquisition
Opportunity Expansion
Customer Acquisition
Customer acquisition is no longer governed by the quality of the sales team. Prospects are half way through their journey before they engage with you. They take their cues from the brand reputation, from the marketing content, from the case studies and from their peer network. The science of marketing journeys and conversion metrics is vital. Furthermore, creating opportunities to increase utilisation, introduce add-on product sales and minimise churn are vital to the all important MRR. ProductSpring can help you create your brand, advise on your marketing strategy, refine your messaging, review your packaging, feedback on your customer success activities, and evaluate your metrics.
Opportunity Expansion
Opportunity Expansion
Sustained Differentiation
Once the initial “product-market fit” has been validated then continued growth can take many forms. Is there enough runway in the current market to achieve the ambitions or does the product need to be taken up or down market? Is there an opportunity to introduce a complementary product to the same customer base? Does the same value proposition translate in other territories or does it need to be revised. Is there an alternative sales channel to be used in the new regions? With their wide experience of developing product portfolios and taking the proposition to global markets, backed by an extensive international channel network, the ProductSpring team can help drive opportunity without the pitfalls.
Sustained Differentiation
Sustained Differentiation
Sustained Differentiation
Your ability to create sustained differentiation will ultimately become your most valuable asset. What is about you that cannot be easily replicated by a competitor? This could be a combination of brand value, your partner ecosystem, your installed base, your patent portfolio, your marketing efficiency and more. A sustainable and defensible moat around your business is likely to make a substantial difference to any future valuation. But creating such an asset requires a conscious and strategic plan and a long-term view. Based on due diligence experience with many tens of companies the ProductSpring team can help inform and checkpoint this plan.
Organisational Efficiency
Sustained Differentiation
Organisational Efficiency
It is tempting to relegate your back office functions to the back of your mind. Yet a security weakness in your IT system could destroy your brand. A relaxed approach to your accounting discipline could be a serious red flag to a capital raise or potential acquirer. Weak customer contracts could prompt future litigation. Whilst a lack of investment in onboarding and HR processes could be a major impediment to a planned ramp up in new hires. ProductSpring can provide the prompting to ensure you are maintaining an agile and disciplined approach your back office systems and process as well as investing in maintaining overall organisational alignment.
Nurturing Talent
Sustained Differentiation
Organisational Efficiency
No corporate plan can deliver without the right talent, organised into a high performance team, benefiting from a shared cultural fit. Not enough of it and you'll fail to achieve your goals. The wrong people in the wrong places can incur a high opportunity cost. Remedying a mistaken hiring decision in some countries can be very significant. ProductSpring can help you identify the core values you seek to have represented on your team, develop the talent you already have, recruit individuals with the skills and personal qualities that you seek, plan your onboarding to help new hires become productive quickly, and to coach the group to achieve peak performance.