The Challenge
The lead investors in an AI/deep-tech company needed the founder to shift away from start-up mode and get set for its next phase of growth. Off the back of a successful Series A, the company had invested significantly in expanding its product and global operations, and cash burn had spiralled. In addition, issues in the underlying technology and data had hampered the path to clear product-market fit and the company had lost its sense of direction.
The key challenge involved grappling with the company’s existing strategy and cost base to determine the potential levers for change, whilst building confidence among investors that the company could reach its future performance milestones.
What We Did
We delivered a rapid operating model review to help assess the company’s people cost and align future investment behind clear goals:
- Using a data-led approach, we assessed the company’s people spend across its core capabilities to determine investment against sources of long and short-term revenue.
- This quantitative insight was rounded out through in-depth discovery interviews across the global leadership team and focused deep-dives with the founder.
- Working with the Chairman, founder, investors and key C-suite, we facilitated a series of workshops to align on the future direction and priorities for the company.
- Following this, a clear set of recommendations was developed for how the operating model, people investment and leadership structure needed to change to drive more efficient scaling.
The Impact
Our work enabled the team to set itself up for the significant period ahead, providing space for some critical conversations that were armed with data. Key areas of impact included:
- Investment in significant C-suite roles, with hires made within the subsequent 3 months of the project
- Clear opportunities to realign people investment into core platform priorities (comprising 5% of total spend)
- Sufficient confidence from existing investors to commit to a future funding round, which completed at the end of the process
- Improved trust among leadership and key investors, laying the groundwork for a future strategy shift based on the platform’s true potential