how young companies can grow faster, smarter - daniel saks, appdirect
TRANSCRIPT
Accelerating Innovation
Build vs. Buy
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material 7/8/15 2
2009
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
AppDirect: Helps businesses find, buy, and use software
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20M+ Reach to end business
users globally
$135M Capital raised from seed
to Series D
4 Acquisitions
300+ Team members
§ Awards:
§ Customers: § Highlights:
§ Investors:
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Traction…
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“How do you sustain growth beyond initial traction?”
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
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1) Establish a Growth Strategy
2) Develop Network Effects
3) Build an Innovation
Framework (include M&A)
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
#1
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"Paradoxically, then, network
effects businesses must start
with especially small markets.
Facebook started with just
Harvard students. " — Peter Thiel (Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future)
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material 7/8/15 10
Segment Geography Capability
Harvard
Ivy League
Colleges
High school
Everyone
Cambridge MA
East Coast
USA
Europe
Global
Profiles
Photos
Events
Newsfeed
Marketplace
Demographic Language Device
Harvard Undergrads
Ivy League Students
College Students
All Students
Everyone
English
Spanish
Japanese
Chinese
All
Web
Mobile
Tablet
Virtual Reality
All
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Segment Geography Capability
Telecom
Retail
XaaS
VAR
Everyone
Canada
North America
Europe
Asia
Global
App Listing
Marketplace Manager
Developer Center
Billing
Data
Demographic Language Device
SMBs
Enterprise
Consumer
Education
Government
English
French
German
Korean
All
Web
Mobile
Tablet
Desktop
All
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1) Establish a Growth Strategy
2) Develop Network Effects
3) Build an Innovation
Framework (include M&A)
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
#2
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© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
Benefits of Magnetic Momentum
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Growth Cost of Acquisition
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But how do you grow even faster?
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1) Establish a Growth Strategy
2) Develop Network Effects
3) Build an Innovation
Framework
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
#3
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S-Curve
Time
Reve
nue
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S-Curve + Innovation
Innovation
Window
New Innovation
Original Innovation
Time
Reve
nue
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Alpha Beta Scale
Explore
New Ideas Prove the
Metrics
Scale the
business
Innovation Strategy
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Alpha
Billing
Innovation Strategy: Case Study – Billing
BUILD
PARTNER
BUY
Alpha
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
Innovation Strategy: Case Study – Billing
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Vision Alignment
Culture Alignment
Clarity of Execution
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
#3
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Alpha
Data
Visualization
Innovation Strategy: Case Study
BUILD
PARTNER
BUY
Leftronic
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Magnetic Momentum + Flywheel Innovation
Time
Reve
nue
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
Recap:
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1) Have a Growth Strategy
2) Establish Network Effects
3) Develop an Innovation
Framework (include M&A)
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
Closing Thought….
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Is it too early for me to start
thinking about growth strategy
and M&A?
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
© 2014 AppDirect, Inc. Confidential Material
www.appdirect.com
@danielsaks