growth toolkit

Growth Toolkit

Ross McKegneyAugust 2012

About me.MBA, Rotman SchoolMSc, Software Engineering, Queen's

2002-2008: product manager / architect, IBM R&D, WebSphere Commerce team.

Then a serial entrepreneur with companies in media and design. Currently CTO at Verold, the leading online collaborative platform for artists/designers of 3D assets (gaming and animation). Part-time professor at the UOIT business school.

Ross McKegney@rossmckegney

Growth Toolkit:Business Design

Alex OsterwalderBusiness Model Canvas.Your business, visually.

Great tool for gettingstakeholders on board,exploring alternatives,and communicating vision.

Roger MartinAnalytical Thinkingvs Intuitive Thinking

Jeanne LiedtkaMaking the design toolkitaccessible to managers

Operations Toolkit:Customer Development

How to find your business model

Lean Startup MetricsEric Ries, Vanity Metrics vs Actionable Metricshttp://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/19/vanity-metrics-vs-actionable-metrics/

Steve Blank, Metrics+http://steveblank.com/2009/12/17/building-a-company-with-customer-data-metrics-are-not-enough/

e.g. User Base MetricsRegistrations (Customers who completed the registration process during the month)Activations (Customers who had activity 3 to 10 days after they registered. Measures only customers that registered during that month)Activation/Registrations %Retained 30+ DaysRetained 30+/ Total Actives %Retained 90+ DaysRetained 90+/Total Actives %Paying Customers (How many customers made $ purchases that month)Conversion rate: Paying/(Activations + Retained 30+)

ForecastingYour forecast will be wrong, embrace that. But it is still an important exercise.

Once you have a plan in place for metrics, plug the numbers into a formula like:http://andrewchen.co/2009/01/19/how-to-create-a-profitable-freemium-startup-spreadsheet-model-included/

Funnel, Users vs Customers

At a high level, there’s what is happening:● Each time period, a bunch of newly registered users come in (both

acquired through ads or through viral marketing)● Some % of these users convert into paying users● Some % of these users then send off viral invites● Revenue is generated by building up a base of paying users● Cost is generated through building up a base of active users

(paying or not!)

StructuredBrainstorming

GamestormingExcellent collectionof games/tools to makemeetings more effective.

Check out:gogamestorm.com

Impact & effort:

5Ws frameworkYour company is the ONLY ________

that __________for __________in _________who ___________in an era of ______________