Toolkit
Informing decision-making
Applied Analysis
In the scale-up phase, historical financial reporting is never sufficient. When growth is fast, you need to make informed decisions quickly.
Applied analysis on financial and non-financial data creates insights that drive better decisions and increase the probability of achieving desired commercial and purpose-driven outcomes. As your business scales, Finance & Operations must evolve to add value as a centre of business intelligence. World class scale-up CFOs/COOs ensure the business has the capacity across people, systems and processes to deliver consistent, useful and timely information to the whole business.
Key expert
“Generating high quality, relevant and timely information for decision-making is crucial through the Scale-Up phase.”
Steven Dunne, Senior PartnerView Profile
Establishing the mission
Strategy
Frogs’ definition of strategy: “A competitive game-plan to achieve an important goal”. Particularly during the scale-up phase, where a degree of product-market fit has already been established, strategy is not about selling a vague market opportunity but rather combining a clear view of addressable market with a robust plan of action as to how this can be exploited. More importantly, recognising the unique resources, attributes and purpose your company has (and will need) to thrive in that environment.
Key expert
“As you scale a business it grows beyond senior management’s line of sight, so purpose and strategy are crucial from a communications perspective.”
David Williams, Operating PartnerView Profile
Achieving organisational clarity
Organisation
Scaling from around 50 people towards 500 and expanding internationally requires clear organisational ethos and structure at Board level. Setting out how the organisation should work and develop with the right strategic guidance and robust governance will be key to your success. World-class organisational thinking reinforces the company purpose, values and culture. Poor execution creates confusion and politics, and undermines the sense of purpose that you have instilled.
Key expert
“Excellent corporate organisation structure will drive discipline and accountability at all levels in a business.”
John Sutherland, Operating PartnerView Profile