The Challenge

A strong technology innovator with a portfolio of patents had achieved Series A financing and was looking to expand from their first couple of regional customers to become a world leader in their field. Two other competitors had secured 3x the funding with much broader platform offerings and were considered leaders, despite having inferior-performing products. How could our 30-person niche technology innovator map a course to become a category leader?

The Solution

We mapped out the entire industry value chain, detailed the value proposition for each player in the value chain, created a product vision for the company that would go on to change the perception of the product category, and defined a series of must-win battles that were tied back to key product initiatives in an OKR framework. The must-win battles allowed the product organization to work closely with the marketing and sales organizations to gradually expand the offering with additional features that in turn allowed the company to change the market agenda from broad platform features to performance and customer experience.

The Outcome

Company revenue grew by 20x over a 5-year period. They redefined their product category through innovation, and exited to an industry player that wanted to use the platform that the company eventually created to expand in new markets and industries.