Yesterday, we had our second Lean Scaleup Roundtable in 2023. A lively ‘fishbowl discussion’ with a scaleup leader who achieved what many corporate scaleups aspire: 400x growth in 3 years. We discussed with Trine Storgaard Nielsen three topics:
1. What is the best go-to-market set-up?
2. What is the best approach to leverage Core’s assets for an unfair advantage?
3. What are the decisive aspects that a leader of a corporate scaleup must have?
Here’s what we want to share from the event:
THREE IDEAS
1. Do not expect that Core’s sales functions will sell the NEW. It will not happen. The NEW disturbs the well-oiled, fine-tuned Core sales engine. Do work with Core’s sales folks so that they share potential leads in their (!) systems (reduce friction to a minimum). Tap into the wealth of data that Corporate can provide (e.g., leads from the corporate website).
2. Find the right distance from Core – not too close but also not too far. Leverage corporate assets and capabilities only if they do not harm customers and the value proposition. Leverage corporate assets – in many cases by building a work-around corporate processes – to save yourself from building a non-differentiating back-end.
3. Be extremely sharp on the leadership capabilities needed to be successful at what stage of the journey – make the tough choices. Build a Build a diverse and trusting team with a corporate understanding that drives the NEW while leveraging the NOW. Empower people to make their best work of their life around a strong and motivating purpose.
TWO QUOTES
“I wish I had dived into the Lean Scaleup before venturing into Twill. It would have offered me concrete tools and advice to manage the corporate collaboration more proactively. Many of the learnings were made the hard way.”
“Thanks for the great session. Spot on, actionable advice for this decisive part of the innovation journey.”
ONE QUESTION
How do you determine the right distance from Core?