1.
Systematic
Business
Innovation

2.
Start-up Grow-upStay-up
10/12 30/35

3.
Start-up Stay-up
10/12 30/35

4.
Start-up Stay-up
•You’re drowning in paperwork -
especially financial
•Quality of work is starting to slip
•Cash flow is bumpy
•Gaps appear in communications
•Team morale is not so great
•You feel overworked & stressed
10/12

5.
Is Money the Answer?

6.
“The unfortunate truth is only one percent of (tech
start-up) business proposals receive funding from
angel investors or venture capitalists or private
equity” – Startup Addict Blog

7.
So think what the percentage is for entrepreneurial
companies that are NOT start-ups: agencies, content
producers, service companies etc.
Businesses that don’t scale.

8.
If money isn’t the answer –
what is?

9.
In 35 years I’ve not seen a
single early-stage company
that couldn’t be more efficient
as a business

10.
Founders Focus
Obsessively
on The New
Thing They Do

11.
While the business vehicle they’re
building to make & market
The New Thing They Do
just isn’t up to the job

12.
It’s flimsy, home-grown, unstable, and
an inefficient way to get from A to B

13.
Product/
Service
Process/
Workflow
Leadership/
Management
Business
Model
People/
Skills
Marketing
Turnover/
Sales
Net
Profits
Structure
By ‘Business’ I don’t mean finance. I
mean all the things that – together -
enable you to generate revenue &
profits from your product or service.
I assume that you can deliver your
product or service .
‘Business’ is everything else you need
to do to create a profitable enterprise.

14.
Home-grown
business
‘vehicle’
Business
inefficiencies
‘Leak’ profits
from producing
& selling product
Not enough
profit to reinvest
in growth
Business stays
stuck in Start-Up
a home-grown
business vehicle
stops you motoring

15.
Poor project
management so
jobs overrun
No ongoing job
profitability
analysis
They’re ‘busy’
, have
revenues, so
think it’s OK
No money to
invest in s@#t-
hot PM
End of year
accounts show
5% Net Profits
agency that
builds websites
for retail clients

16.
Flat structure: 2
founders + very
young team
Founders get
jobs in & look
after clients
No-one managing
team so poor
quality control
Lowers job
profits, reduces their
biz dev effort, slows
growth
Founders have
to step in to sort
jobs out
social media
marketing/PR
agency

17.
All early-stage businesses have –
under the hood - these
‘invisible inefficiencies’.
If you can identify these and reduce
them, you can ‘find’ the profit to fuel
growth organically.
(what ‘funding’ often does is allow these
inefficiencies to remain invisible)

18.
Joseph
Schumpeter

19.
“Creative Destruction”
Creative Destruction

20.
“Creative Destruction…
incessantly revolutionizes the
economic structure from
within, incessantly destroying
the old one, incessantly
creating a new one.”

21.
INVENTION
INNOVATION

22.
They haven’t taken on board his distinction
between Invention and Innovation
INVENTION INNOVATION

23.
They haven’t taken on board his distinction
between Invention and Innovation
INVENTION + INNOVATION
= ENTREPRENEUR

24.
“This should be as demanding and exciting
as inventing the thing you do”
Every aspect
of it
An entrepreneur also innovates
the entire business that creates &
delivers the new thing they do

25.
When you
Invent and Innovate
it can produce
extraordinary success

26.
But that’s not what most early-stage
entrepreneurs do

27.
Systematic
Business
Innovation

28.
A Business is a System

29.
“A set of interacting
or interdependent
components
forming an
integrated whole”

30.
“A set of interacting
or interdependent
components
forming an
integrated whole”

31.
Product/
Service
Process/
Workflow
Leadership/
Management
Business
Model
People/
Skills
Marketing
Turnover/
Sales
Net
Profits
Structure

32.
Product/
Service
Process/
Workflow
Structure
Leadership/
Management
Business
Model
People/
Skills
Marketing
Turnover/
Sales
Net
Profits

33.
How do you
grow a
business in a
Systematic
way?

34.
every
detail, every
element must
be building
towards your
ultimate Vision
It’s like directing a film:

35.
it’s a way of seeing and
understanding your
business.

36.
it’s about how you use your
own creativity to innovate
your whole business

37.
Let’s get closer to the real
world of running a business.
Let’s start by talking about
burgers.

38.
THE NEW THING THAT YOU DO
BUSINESS ENGINE
BUSINESS STRATEGY

39.
BUSINESS ENGINE
BUSINESS STRATEGY
THE NEW THING THAT YOU DO
Deciding where you want to go as a business and
planning how to get there
The mechanics of the business; how it functions
efficiently day-to-day

40.
THE NEW THING THAT YOU DO
BUSINESS ENGINE
BUSINESS STRATEGY

41.
OPERATIONAL
COMPETENCE
=
the skills to execute on
The New Thing That You Do
(The Invention)
Business Strategy
isn’t developed
Business Engine is
neglected

42.
THE NEW
THING THAT
YOU DO
(Product/Service)
Process/
Workflow
Structure
Leadership/
Management
Business
Model
People/
Skills
Marketing
Turnover/
Sales
Net
Profits

43.
Product/
Service
Process/
Workflow
Structure
Leadership/
Management
Business
Model
People/
Skills
Marketing
Turnover/
Sales
Net
Profits

44.
Start-up Stay-up
10/12

45.
Benchmark
where you
are – with
total
honesty.
This is
point A.

46.
Draw
your
Vision.
This is
point B.

47.
Build an
integrated
Road Map
This is how
you’re going to
get from A to B.

48.
Identify the
true value in
your business.
Build your
pricing
around it.

49.
Bake
innovation
skills into
the team
leading the
business.

50.
Innovate
your
business
model.

51.
Innovate
& build
your
business
engine.

52.
Get
management
information
flowing.
Use it to
make better
decisions.

53.
Separate
operational from
strategic
decision-making.
With separate
management and
board meetings.

54.
Develop the
entrepreneur/s
business skills
& perspective

55.
Develop a
senior
management
team.
Empower
them.

56.
Let’s look at one in more detail.
I’ve chosen this one because it’s at
the heart of the whole process.
Build an integrated Road Map

57.
Q1 Q1Q4 Q4Q2 Q3Q3Q2
Example: an early-stage online
jewellery business that is growing fast
& sees opportunities for it’s own e-
commerce operation, partnering with
the big online retailers and opening
operations in China
Build an integrated Road Map

58.
Q1 Q1Q4 Q4Q2 Q3Q3Q2
People/ Skills
Product/
Service
Process/
Workflow
Structure
Business
Model
Leadership/
Management
Marketing
Turnover/
Sales
Net Profits
YEAR1
YEAR2
750K
Team: 6
3rd party
sites
(too?)
flat
E-commerce
range
94K
Basic
Website
2 Founders
(designers)
UK
outworkers

59.
Q1 Q1Q4 Q4Q2 Q3Q3Q2
People/ Skills
Product/
Service
Process/
Workflow
Structure
Business
Model
Leadership/
Management
Marketing
Turnover/
Sales
1.5m
Net Profits 150K
Full-time
MD
Free up
MD 50%
Shanghai
Warehouse
Bespoke
Service
Multiple rev
streams
Team = 15
people
Open in
China
YEAR1
YEAR2
Team: 6
3rd party
sites
(too?)
flat
E-commerce
range
94K
2 Founders
(designers)
UK
outworkers
750K
Basic
Website
750K

60.
Q1 Q1Q4 Q4Q2 Q3Q3Q2
People/ Skills
Product/
Service
Process/
Workflow
Structure
Business
Model
Leadership/
Management
Open in
China
Turnover/
Sales
1.5m
Mgmt team
Net Profits 150K
Full-time
MD
750K 1m 1.35m1.25m1.1m800K 900K
Shanghai
Warehouse
Bespoke
Service
Multiple rev
streams
Team: 6 Hire studio
assistant
Hire
designer
Hire sales/
account mgr
Hire Shanghai
head
Team = 15
people
Promote
Ben to MD
Mgmt
training Ben
Ben: build
mgmt team
Ben: build
mgmt team
Marketing
3rd party
sites
(too?)
flat
E-commerce
range
94K
Basic
Website
2 Founders
(designers)
UK
outworkers
Limit of flat
structure

61.
1. Benchmark where you are: A
2. Draw your Vision: B
3. Build a Road Map
4. Identify real value & price accordingly
5. Equip leaders with innovation skills
6. Innovate your business model
7. Innovate & build your business engine
8. Get Management Information flowing
9. Operational/Strategic decision-making
10. Develop leaders’ business expertise
11. Develop/empower management team

62.
Don’t derail your business by
thinking anyone can run one…
Invent
and Innovate!

63.
fromstartuptostayup.com