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Optimize the Right Metrics to Scale Your Business

Tech CEOs will accelerate at-scale attainment with the right front-office metrics, innovative problem solving, and continuous improvement.

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Thought Model: Optimize the Right Metrics to Scale Your Business

Member Challenge

  • Failing to present the board with clear metrics and improvement plans can have a significant impact on a leader's career.
  • Measuring metrics not aligned with revenue goals hinders a software startup's growth and success.
  • Lack of shared goals and metrics hinders data-driven decision making.
  • Leaders need reliable metrics to improve processes.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

This SoftwareReviews blueprint provides the guidance and tools required to implement a key metrics approach, resulting in getting to scale faster. Key steps for success include:

  • Establishing benchmarks in front-office operations.
  • Educating stakeholders on the importance of the right metrics.
  • Evaluating against benchmarks and establishing a link between key metrics and processes.
  • Setting realistic goals for functional leaders for improvement and aligning with the CEO's goals.
  • Measuring the impact of changes, adjusting improvement goals, and communicating progress.

Impact and Result

Instill confidence in leadership among investors, the board, and employees through a demonstrated ability to bring operations back on track as indicated by key metrics.

Research & Tools

Name Actions

1. Optimize the Right Metrics to Scale Your Business Deck – A deck to enable tech CEOs to have conversations with other leaders, compare the company's performance against benchmarks, diagnose metrics, and improve and scale their company.

In this deck, you will discover the key metrics that will help your company scale and the benchmarks for guiding decisions on making operational improvements to scale the company.

Name Actions
Optimize the Right Metrics to Scale Your Business – Phases 1-2

2. Optimize the Right Metrics to Scale Your Business Toolkit – Tools to calculate key metrics and compare against benchmarks.

These tools compare your company's benchmarks against those of high-growth companies, giving you insights into the secondary metrics that could help you scale.

Name Actions
Key Metrics Evaluation and Benchmarking Tool
Metrics Benchmarking Reference Guide

3. Optimize the Right Metrics to Scale Your Business Tool Presentation Template – A template to present the results of benchmarking analysis, create improvement plans, and assign responsibility.

This presentation makes it easy to communicate the need for a metrics strategy that aligns everyone, tracks performance against industry benchmarks, and creates a plan for improvement and growth.

Name Actions
Metrics and Operations Improvement Plan Presentation Template

Onsite Workshop: Optimize the Right Metrics to Scale Your Business

Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Do-It-Yourself Implementation

The slides in this Best Practice Blueprint will walk you step-by-step through every phase of your project with supporting tools and templates ready for you to use.

Project Accelerator Workshop

You can also use this Best Practice Blueprint to facilitate your own project accelerator workshop within your organization using the workshop slides and facilitation instructions provided in the Appendix.

Module 1: Establish Metrics and Stakeholders

The Purpose

Assess the current metrics and processes, help align the leadership team to key metrics, and identify secondary metrics to scale.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Key metrics identified
  • Tools to identify and troubleshoot performance against benchmarks

Activities Outputs
1.1 Discuss the current metrics that are being used to measure the success of the organization.
  • Assessment of the current stage of metrics
1.2 Identify the key stakeholders who will be affected by any changes to the metrics.
  • Documented metrics being used and their owners
1.3 Discuss and summarize the growth plan and strategy of the company
  • Mapped impact of the current metrics in the decision-making process

Module 2: Evaluate the Processes and Links to the Metrics

The Purpose

Identify the metrics collection process and assign ownership.

Key Benefits Achieved

Alignment on the metrics and finalized collection process

Activities Outputs
2.1 Discuss the current processes that are in place to collect and analyze the data.
  • List of metric collection tools and resources
2.2 Identify the links between the metrics and the organization's goals.
  • Identified metrics and alignment to the goals
2.3 Identify any areas where the processes could be improved.
  • Time and resource commitments understood by key stakeholders
2.4 Turn KPIs into shared goals.

Module 3: Compare the Current Metrics to Benchmarks and Identify Gaps

The Purpose

Look at the top four metrics that are critical for this stage of the company and check against benchmarks.

Key Benefits Achieved

Results of the benchmarking exercise and an analysis of the gaps

Activities Outputs
3.1 Compare the organization's current metrics to industry benchmarks. 
  • Benchmark comparison report using tool
3.2 Identify any gaps between the organization’s metrics and the benchmarks. 
  • Finalized additional metrics list and process to measure
3.3 Discuss the implications of these gaps.
  • Agreement on stakeholders for the new measurements

Module 4: Plan to Address Gaps and the Changes Needed

The Purpose

Create a plan to address the gaps.

Key Benefits Achieved

Leadership team aligned and finalized plans to address metric gaps

Activities Outputs
4.1 Develop a plan to address the gaps in the organization's metrics.
  • Detailed plan for new reports and dashboards
4.2 Identify the resources that will be needed to implement the changes. 
  • Deck for presentation to broader audience
4.3 Develop a timeline for implementing the changes.
  • Modifications to board and quarterly business review reports
  • Preparation/dry run session on new metrics

Module 5: Develop a Strategy for Implementing the Changes

The Purpose

Finalize strategy for continuous monitoring and improvement.

Key Benefits Achieved

Targets and plan for monitoring metric performance

Activities Outputs
5.1 Discuss the challenges that may be encountered in implementing the changes.
  • Agreement on frequency of measurement
5.2 Develop a strategy for overcoming these challenges.
  • Measurement and monitoring team
5.3 Develop a communication plan to keep stakeholders informed of the changes.
  • Process for acting on measurement alerts
  • Strategy for revisiting the benchmarks annually
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