Successful Venture Scaling – the Learning Series
While the success of corporate venture building is undeniable, a significant gap remains in guiding founders through the critical scaling stage. Recognizing this, we have crafted a unique framework for venture scaling, distilled into an accessible and comprehensive book. This resource encapsulates decades of expertise in both corporate and independent venture building, offering a straightforward approach to scaling ventures alongside insights into all relevant business dimensions for scaling success.In a bid to share this knowledge widely, we're launching a series of more than 50 mini-blogs, each spotlighting a specific sub-dimension of these business dimensions. Whether you're seeking the full breadth of our scaling framework or wish to engage our experts directly, this series—and the book it draws from—provides the guidance you need for successful venture scaling.
Introduction to the Strategy Dimension
The first scaling framework dimension is strategy. This dimension sums up everything that gives your venture a longer-term perspective. Starting from the vision and leading to investor relations, the sub dimensions of strategy are often the venture founders’ responsibility.The topics in this chapter are unique; they are the only topics that must be known throughout your entire venture, from the beginning of the building phase to long after the scaling phase. They give direction and can unify your venture if prepared and communicated correctly. Make sure you plan for that communication part, maybe more than once. Your employees must understand the common goal everyone is working for.
The topics in this chapter are unique; they are the only topics that must be known throughout your entire venture, from the beginning of the building phase to long after the scaling phase. They give direction and can unify your venture if prepared and communicated correctly. Make sure you plan for that communication part, maybe more than once. Your employees must understand the common goal everyone is working for.
The blogs in this dimension are:
- Vision and Mission
- Strategy
- Value Proposition
- Market and Competition
- Business Model
- Business Plan
- Investor Relations
Diving into Strategy with Vision and Mission
In our journey through the strategic framework, we start with the core: Vision and Mission. This is where every venture begins its path to growth, laying down the fundamental beliefs and objectives that drive its future. Vision and mission are the very pillars that support and guide a venture's strategy, influencing every decision and action. As we explore these concepts, we underscore their role in providing direction and inspiring the team, ensuring every step taken aligns with the venture's ultimate goals.
Vision and Mission
Not long ago, the company’s vision was also called the “North Star,” which always symbolizes its use well. A vision describes what your venture should be in the future, five to ten years from now, maybe even more. It also serves as a guideline for every employee on what greater goal the individual work packages serve, in other words, a guiding north star. The mission describes how your venture shall reach this future. It is more of a description of how you do it.
You can formulate a vision and a mission statement, which is the classical way of doing it. An example would be Wikipedia. Their vision statement is “Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge,” and their mission statement is “The mission of the Wikipedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally."
You can also give guiding bullet points and let employees invent stories they feel personally connected to around these bullet points. This way, your employees are more engaged with the vision and mission and will remember them better.
When entering the scaling phase, finalizing your vision and mission is essential. In the building phase, you might have made adjustments that now conflict with the original statements you might have formulated. Besides the importance as guiding principles for everything you and your colleagues do, they also form a foundation for your brand, communication, investor relations, culture, and many more.
Please don’t overdo it; you can easily get lost in formulating a vision and mission. Maybe hire a moderator for a half day workshop, integrate a few team members in this workshop, and strive for an 80% solution. It will most probably be good enough for what you need.
Questions to Assess Your Status Quo
To better understand how much effort you should put into this topic, we have created a list of questions that help you to assess your current situation:
- What are our vision and mission statements?
- Do I get different answers for Question 1 when asking different employees?
- Are vision and mission reflected in our core values?
- Are vision and mission in line with our current strategic direction?
- Are vision and mission aligned with our business model and plan?
- Are vision and mission aligned with our corporate investor and the corporate strategy (and vision and mission)?
Next up
In our next article we will delve into another vital component of venture scaling, providing you with insights and actionable strategies to further enhance your venture's growth trajectory. For those eager to dive deeper into the intricacies of venture scaling or in need of expert guidance, our team is here to assist. Reach out to Alex Matthews, Louis Buys or Kilian Veer to explore how we can support your venture's journey towards success. Remember, scaling a venture is a nuanced process that requires careful consideration of strategy, execution, and continuous adaptation. Let us help you navigate this journey with confidence and strategic foresight.
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