Tutorial 10.2 Growth Strategy Templates To Plan Business Goals [in-depth guide][Soong HC]
Tutorial 10.2 Growth Strategy Templates To Plan Business Goals [in-depth guide][Soong HC]
(https://venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/01/growth-strategy.jpg)
I often find that at the end of the year my sense of perspective is heightened and I generally feel a lot more motivated and
excited about the future.
Part of this feeling comes from knowing that a new year is just around the corner, which means a fresh start at tackling any
personal or business-related challenges. As a result, it’s the perfect opportunity to start planning your growth goals for the
coming year.
But one of the challenges that come with planning our growth strategy is setting realistic and ambitious expectations of
what is achievable.
As it turns out, there is a very effective strategy for setting and hitting your growth goals, and by following this strategy
you can accurately predict what is possible to accomplish.
I’d like to walk you through the process of not only identifying what those goals are but also how you can break down the
actions required to hit them. I’ll also provide you with some useful growth strategy templates that myself and the
team at Venngage use to help make the journey a lot easier.
(/) You Product
can also (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page) Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication)
take a look at some other process infographic templates Tem
(https://venngage.com/templates/infographics/process) that could help you map out different growth strategies in more
detail. Or create a business plan (https://venngage.com/features/create-business-plan) using our online drag and drop
tool–no design experience required.
The process for identifying and hitting your business goals can be broken down into five steps:
Step 2: Understanding which inputs and outputs impact those goals. (https://venngage.com/blog/growth-
strategy/#step2)
By the end of this five-step process, not only should you have a very clear idea of what goals to target for the year, but you
will know exactly what is required of you and your team to get there.
Visually documenting the path to hitting your business goals (https://filmlifestyle.com/goal-setting-tips/) will not only
help you have a better understanding of the specific factors that will influence growth, it will also provide the rest of your
team with a concise and easy-to-follow growth strategy roadmap as well.
(Oh, and did I mention that we’ve got plenty of roadmap templates (https://venngage.com/features/roadmap-
maker/) to help you visualize your growth strategy?)
Writing out the steps is useful, but showing those steps can help everyone envision the path in question.
Imagine if you were to start reading the Harry Potter series, and J.K. Rowling started the story by saying:
“Hey guys, just so you know, Harry wins and Voldemort is defeated in the end.”
(https://venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/01/image2.png)
If you could know for sure how much revenue your company would make in the long-run before you even started your
venture, would that not be helpful in figuring out the best growth strategy to get there?
It’s always helpful to start out with a very high-level and ambitious goal. Many successful and fast-growing companies do
this, and all of them have different terms to refer to these high-level goals.
Shopify calls this the BHAG, which stands for big, hairy, audacious goals (https://medium.com/inside-shopify/the-
importance-of-personal-projects-goal-guidelines-and-creative-courage-195d3941ca84). This business goal is usually meant
to seem a little bit crazy.
Brian Balfour takes a more practical approach and refers to setting high-level goals as using the Top-Down Approach
(https://brianbalfour.com/essays/setting-yearly-growth-goals) to inform your growth models.
And of course, at Venngage we simply call these our “high-level” or “long-term” goals. But the point is, you need to start
out by mapping out a long-term goal, like your 10-year goal.
Where do you see yourself and your company by that time? How much should you grow your business
(https://www.patriotsoftware.com/blog/accounting/should-you-grow-your-small-business/)? How much revenue do you
expect your company to generate? How many employees do you see yourself having?
(https://venngage.com/templates/roadmaps/growth-goals-63a3cea1-ebbf-4f21-8899-a050c6abf950)
These are the High-Level Growth Goals for a hypothetical company called StartUp Masters. Their mission (“To provide
startups with an affordable means of managing projects in order to achieve rapid growth”) is clearly stated, and their
goals are broken down in order to depict where they envision themselves to be In 10 years, 5 years, 3 years and finally 1
year.
At 10 years old, the company expects to be making 100 million in revenue and they expect to achieve this with 120
employees. They’ve also indicated the number of daily active users required to get there.
On top of that, they’ve listed out some steps required in order to achieve those goals. As you glance further down the
funnel, you can see that this is, in fact, a pretty audacious business goal considering where the company is probably
starting out from.
By working backward, it becomes easier to make somewhat realistic goals of where the company would need to be
in 5 years, 3 years and 1 year in order to hit that 10-year goal.
Start breaking down your own high-level goals with the Growth Goals template.
(https://venngage.com/templates/roadmaps/growth-goals-63a3cea1-ebbf-4f21-8899-
a050c6abf950)
GO TO TEMPLATE
(https://venngage.com/templates/roadmaps/growth-goals-63a3cea1-ebbf-4f21-8899-a050c6abf950)
OK great, so you’ve got your high-level goals set out, now you can wipe your hands clean and be done with your growth
strategy, right?
Wrong!
g
In this book, he uses the analogy of a breakfast factory to help explain the importance of all the little actions (or inputs)
that have an impact on the successful operation and growth of the factory (its output).
What this means is that for every goal you set, there are key metrics and results which will help you identify
whether or not you will, in fact, achieve that goal. And of course, there are specific growth strategies that you can
follow to help you move the needle on those key metrics.
One of the first metrics you should identify is your North Star Metric (https://medium.com/m/global-identity?
redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fptop.only.wip.la%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fblog.growthhackers.com%2Fwhat-is-a-north-star-metric-b31a8512923f). This metric is often
described as the one number that best represents the core value that your product delivers to your customers.
(https://venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/01/image5.jpg)
For instance, if we take Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.com) as an example, their North Star Metric is the number of nights
booked. Why?
If more nights are being booked, and that number is consistently increasing, it means that more customers are having a
positive experience with Airbnb and are therefore returning to the platform to book their accommodation.
At Venngage, our North Star Metric is the number of infographics completed. Because if people are completing more and
(/) moreProduct (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page)
infographics Solutions
that they are proud of, it’s a clear indication that they are(/solutions/executive-communication)
finding value from the tool. Tem
This number should also have a direct correlation with your company’s revenue goals and retention goals. The more
value people are finding from your product, the more likely they are to stay and continue paying for your product.
The next step is identifying what your current baseline is for your North Star Metric. Let’s take a look at the growth
strategy template below for our hypothetical company, StartUp Masters.
(/) Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page) Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication) Tem
(https://venngage.com/templates/reports/okrs-and-inputs-0b4d56f3-f72d-454a-8158-9864e07fa1cc)
In the previous template that broke down their high-level goals, they indicated that one of the steps to achieving their 1st-
year goal was to increase the retention rate to 30% at 12 months.
If you take a look at the end of the above template, you can see that the baseline of completed projects is indicated under
the Retention OKR.
(/) As you
Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page)
can see, Solutions
they have identified that users have completed 90,000 (/solutions/executive-communication)
projects successfully, and they currently have Tem
45,000 Daily Active Users.
Now, in order to hit their revenue and acquisition goals, the company needs to get to 70,000 Daily Active Users. But in
order to hit their retention goal of 30%, each of those users needs to complete at least 3 projects successfully which they
have calculated as a leading indicator of better retention (https://medium.com/m/global-identity?
redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fptop.only.wip.la%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fcs.guilhermelopes.io%2Fleading-indicators-6b5a54112402).
When creating your growth strategy, you need to figure out the overall baselines for your North Star Metric, and
how that number will need to change in order to impact your various OKRs.
If you weren’t aware of what an OKR (https://plan.io/blog/what-are-okrs/) is, it stands for Objective Key Results.
They refer to specific metrics that you can track which will, in turn, influence your high-level goals.
In most software startups, many founders follow the AARRR framework (https://partners.livechatinc.com/blog/aarrr-
metrics/) for setting and tracking OKRs. This stands for Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral.
Each of these metrics is important for understanding the behaviors of your customers and of course, the growth potential
of your business.
Sometimes, however, it can be overwhelming to influence every single one of these metrics, so in this particular growth
strategy template, which helps to break down goals, StartUp Masters is focusing on influencing Acquisition, Conversions
(Revenue) and Retention OKRs.
Take a look at the Acquisition OKRs they identified while growth planning:
(/) Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page) Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication) Tem
The main metrics that influence acquisition for StartUp Masters is their Organic Traffic goals and their Paid Traffic goals.
They will need to scale their organic traffic by 130,000 unique visits a month, and their paid traffic by 70,000 unique visits
a month.
However, if you look at the inputs that impact those specific OKRs, there are multiple pages that drive organic traffic, so
they’ve outlined the required traffic to these various sections of their site.
For the sake of simplicity, the OKRs mentioned here only talk about the traffic goals and not on the burn rate of your
marketing budget. However, in actual practice, you may also be concerned about your customer acquisition costs
(https://blog.useproof.com/customer-acquisition-cost/).
Typically, paid acquisition channels like Facebook Ads and Adwords have a higher CAC than organic channels like SEO or
content marketing. A long term growth plan might hence also include targets to bring your average acquisition costs
down.
By continuing to break down their goals into smaller and more specific inputs, it becomes easier to envision the path
towards achieving those high-level goals within the growth plan.
When you are setting your own OKRs (https://hypercontext.com/goal-examples), you also need to know which
metrics you can manipulate at a smaller scale that will have greater leverage. And as you continue to figure out which
inputs will impact your OKRs, you can start thinking of experiments that will, in turn, influence your inputs.
Help your team to clearly understand which inputs impact your main OKRs.
(https://venngage.com/templates/reports/okrs-and-inputs-0b4d56f3-f72d-454a-8158-
9864e07fa1cc)
(/) Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page) Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication) Tem
GO TO TEMPLATE (https://venngage.com/templates/reports/okrs-and-inputs-0b4d56f3-f72d-454a-8158-
9864e07fa1cc)
(https://venngage.com/blog/team-alignment-handbook)
Simply stated, waterfalling is what happens when a team continues to add requirements to a project, to the point
where the task becomes so large that the time required to implement it keeps increasing. Eventually, what was
supposed to be implemented within a two-week sprint, ends up taking months to push out.
In an effort to avoid falling victim to the waterfall taking over your growth strategy , it’s better to operate on a one or two-
week sprint cadence.
This can be achieved by, you guessed it–breaking down these big projects into more bite-sized experiments, or MVTs.
An MVT is a Minimum Viable Test, and its purpose is primarily to derive insights and validate whether or not it’s
even worth pursuing the larger-scale project. By running more MVTs, you gain more learnings which can help inform
which steps to take next.
Start by deciding which OKR you are trying to impact. As you can see in the growth strategy template below, the OKR that
StartUp Masters is trying to impact is their retention metric. The goal is to push more users to complete one additional
project in the span of three weeks.
(/) Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page) Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication) Tem
(/) Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page) Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication) Tem
(https://venngage.com/templates/reports/mvt-breakdown-578befc8-cee8-4e8c-b979-f1feea153526)
Then, the suggested experiment is to create a pop-up modal within the project dashboard which will push users to begin a
new project upon hitting the 80% completion mark.
They’ve even hypothesized the results that this new implementation will reap. If you take a look at the next step, they’ve
outlined the effort required by each team. This is usually a pretty clear indicator of whether or not your experiment is
veering in the direction of a waterfall.
Your goal when planning out MVTs is to run experiments which require low effort, but have a high output. These are
considered to be “slam-dunks” because you can get big results in less time and with less work required.
(/) Naturally, not every experiment will be a “slam-dunk” but as a general rule of thumb, you want to avoid anything that
Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page) Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication) Tem
could be considered high effort and low output, which risk becoming “turtles”.
So here’s where the MVT breakdown board comes in handy when planning your growth strategy. Just walk through this
process to get an idea of whether or not your suggested experiment can and should be broken down even more.
Well, considering that the Marketing and Engineering effort required is medium, and the Design effort is high, chances are
that it will take at least a few weeks to run the test, so the answer is no.
2. Has this implementation already been validated and proven to have a direct and positive impact on
the OKR via a previous experiment?
Since this is a first test that StartUp Masters is running in order to try and get more people to create a new project,
chances are it hasn’t been proven in anyway just yet. So the answer is also no.
3. Can this implementation be broken down and tested without the assistance of engineering?
In this case, the answer is yes because there are other means for StartUp Masters to get the insights they require in order
to validate their idea. At this point, they would need to list out possible ways to run the test without the support of
engineering.
This might mean something as simple as setting up an automated email to a segment of users that is triggered at the 80%
completion mark, asking them to start on the next project.
4. Will this smaller test still provide useful insights without requiring substantial effort from multiple
teams?
Sending an email is a relatively low effort task on the Marketing side which requires little to no support from Design or
Engineering, and which will still provide enough information to validate whether the full feature should be implemented.
So the answer is a resounding yes.
As a result, by running their suggested experiment through the MVT Breakdown Board, StartUp Masters is able to avoid a
waterfall project and gain useful learnings in a shorter period of time.
Are your experiments at risk of becoming waterfalls? Use this chart to help break your
projects down into smaller MVTs. (https://venngage.com/templates/reports/mvt-
breakdown-578befc8-cee8-4e8c-b979-f1feea153526)
GO TO TEMPLATE
(https://venngage.com/templates/reports/mvt-breakdown-578befc8-cee8-4e8c-b979-f1feea153526)
(https://venngage.com/templates/reports/marketing-sprint-checklist-c026a686-abde-415b-a100-2d7317a3dadb)
As you can see, StartUp Masters follows the “Jobs to Be Done” framework (https://medium.com/m/global-identity?
redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fptop.only.wip.la%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fjtbd.info%2Freplacing-the-user-story-with-the-job-story-af7cdee10c27), which focuses on
the goals a potential user has, rather than solely focusing on who they are as a person (which is more dependent on
marketing to personas).
Here we can see the various “Jobs to Be Done” listed out. Moreover, they are also considering personas as an important
factor (https://medium.com/@NadyaKhoja/why-understanding-your-audience-is-crucial-to-boosting-traffic-
806e684c61c4) in how they plan out their experiments.
Of course, they include the probability of success as a factor, the effort required per team and the OKR that is impacted
from the experiment.
By getting everyone on your team to use this growth strategy checklist when deciding which experiments to go after, it
becomes easier at a first glance to know if all the areas of importance are being considered.
GO TO TEMPLATE
(https://venngage.com/templates/reports/marketing-sprint-checklist-c026a686-abde-415b-a100-2d7317a3dadb)
(https://venngage.com/templates/roadmaps/release-and-results-2503011c-7891-4e77-a93c-0ee521a6e8d3)
At any rate, the rest of the company will see who the A-players are (https://thisisnadya.com/hiring-hustlers-how-to-
determine-what-interview-questions-to-ask/), and who is falling short, which is often a wake-up call for the latter.
Start tracking which experiments your team members are working on, and monitoring
what results they are getting. (https://venngage.com/templates/roadmaps/release-
and-results-2503011c-7891-4e77-a93c-0ee521a6e8d3)
GO TO TEMPLATE
(https://venngage.com/templates/roadmaps/release-and-results-2503011c-7891-4e77-a93c-0ee521a6e8d3)
Conclusion
There is no silver bullet or quick “hack” that will lead to explosive growth.
In fact, growth is a long process and requires a strong focus and understanding of the data and metrics that influence the
various moving parts of an organization. That is why you need a well thought out growth strategy to really succeed.
You can then start the new year right by setting ambitious business goals, and breaking them down into easily digestible
inputs.
(/) By continuing
Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page)
to test out various experiments, and analyzing the Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication)
results of those experiments–in time you will find that Tem
achieving the goals your set for yourself and for your company seem a lot more within reach.
30+ Business Report Templates That Every Business Needs [+ Design Tips]
(https://venngage.com/blog/business-report-templates/)
(https://venngage.com/blog/consulting-proposal-template/)
(https://venngage.com/blog/business-report-templates/)
Add a comment...
Henry Foster
Nadya, excellent piece. We all wish it was a silver bullet, but that would be
too easy
Love the idea of MVTs and using them to understand the impact on OKRs.
Nadya Khoja
Hey Henry! The concept of MVTs is not a new one, but I wish more
people would use the process to validate ideas first. It's funny, a lot
of startups think that "fail fast" refers to just launching a bunch of
companies and everntually the best idea will stick, but I think it refers
to testing more frequently and constantly iterating until you find a
way to make your initial idea stick. Thanks for reading!
Like · Reply · 3y
Netanel Baruch
WOW Nadya you are awesome !
so much useful content !
There is much to learn from you beyond the excellent content, that also your
amazing marketing method!
I really liked it!
Like · Reply · 3y
Guillaume Tessier
Thanks Nadya!
(/) Product (https://venngage.com/blog/features-page)
Couldn't agree more with "to start at the end and work backwards". It's like
Solutions (/solutions/executive-communication) Tem
planning a trip. Much easier when you know the final destination!
And I also believe marketers must start with the Jobs-to-be-done in mind.
How do (potential) users express their needs. The purpose of marketing is to
meet the audience where they can be found (Buyer's Journey Stages).
Like · Reply · 3y
Nadya Khoja
Exactly- and ultimately the job of any marketer is to provide the best
experience of their user (while also hitting their own marketing
goals) which is why the jobs to be done framework is so great!
Thanks for the comment
Like · Reply · 3y
Nguyễn Mia
I am pretty much pleased with your good work.
https://bsscommerce.com/magento-2-extensions.html
Like · Reply · 3y
Justin Evans
Very nice ! Using business models can support the businessmen and
companies to get successful startups. Here i read an article about setting up
a right business model for your startup: https://www.odtap.com/setting-up-
right-business-model.../
On the other hand, business models also help the businessmen and firms
(limited to low revenue growth) to achieve more without risking the
investments.
Like · Reply · 2y
Anaïs Prathana
Amazing content, thanks!!!
Like · Reply · 2y
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