Business Initiative Tracker

Successfully launching a new business initiative requires entirely different metrics and stakeholder management tactics compared to the running business. Want to manage your new initiative successfully? Select its maturity stage below to discover the key metrics for that stage.

You will see two types of metrics. Launching a business initiative involves validation activities where the end goal is not yet defined, so standard KPIs don’t apply. For these activities, we use Activity Metrics. This means we focus on these two types of metrics:

Activity Metrics: to measure the execution of the right activities at that stage

Success Metrics: to define end goals that ensure the initiative's success at that stage.

Select your initiative's maturity stage:

The concept is still just an idea that is being explored to assess it’s potential. Exploring initial customer problems and potential solutions.

Activity Metric

Exploring the business model

Understanding your business model is crucial as it defines how the business idea creates, delivers, and captures value. This exploration helps identify potential revenue streams, cost structures, and key resources, ensuring a solid foundation for your initiative.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Gather insights from customer interactions to highlight real-world pain points and potential value adds.

Midlevel coaches

Facilitate cross-departmental discussions to gather a holistic view and ensure alignment with business objectives.

Senior leaders

Set strategic priorities and encourage exploration into diverse business models that align with long-term goals.

Activity Metric

Exploring customer problems

Make sure the idea owner has direct contact with the end-users at this stage and is creating a deep understanding of the core problem they face. The problem should be defined by the end-users, not by the ideas or assumptions of the idea owner. This exploration ensures that the product or service addresses real customer needs and delivers tangible value.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Engage with customers to directly understand their needs and assess problem-solution fit.

Midlevel coaches

Translate customer painpoints into actionable plans for the product team, based on the customer journey.

Senior leaders

Guide the team in prioritizing high-value customer benefits that differentiate the initiative in the marketplace.

Success Metric

Expected ROI is > 250%

A high but realistic ROI demonstrates proper business potential. Reality will hit during market validation and bring the ROI (most likely) down, but with a high expected ROI to begin with shows the idea is strong enough to take those hits and justifying further resource allocation.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Provide feedback from the market to adjust ROI projections based on actual customer interest.

Midlevel coaches

Guide the team in sketching the business model and validate how realistic >250% ROI is.

Senior leaders

Evaluate basic financial feasibility and validate high ROI potential before committing large investments.

Clear business model, market potential, and financial projections.

Activity Metric

The project has a dedicated owner

A dedicated owner ensures accountability and focus. This person drives the project forward, coordinates efforts, and makes critical decisions, which is essential for maintaining momentum and achieving milestones.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Offer on-the-ground insights and support to the project owner to maintain momentum.

Midlevel coaches

Support the project owner with the resources they need and help remove any roadblocks.

Senior leaders

Ensure that the project owner has strategic support and a clear mandate to drive the initiative.

Activity Metric

Facts and assumptions are split and being explored

Distinguishing between facts and assumptions allows for a more rigorous validation process. This approach helps in identifying and mitigating risks early, ensuring that the business model is based on verified data.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Collect data from customer interactions to validate assumptions directly with users.

Midlevel coaches

Encourage the team to challenge assumptions and provide tools to differentiate facts from hypotheses.

Senior leaders

Oversee the validation process to ensure a solid foundation based on real evidence.

Success Metric

The project has management team sponsorship

Management sponsorship provides strategic alignment and resource support. It ensures that the project has the backing needed to overcome obstacles and achieve its objectives.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Keep management informed with regular updates to ensure continued buy-in.

Midlevel coaches

Champion the project within the organization to keep it top-of-mind for executives.

Senior leaders

Provide visible support and allocate necessary resources to emphasize the project’s importance.

First customers are paying for the product or service, providing initial market validation

Activity Metric

Interviewing 5 customers per week

Regular customer interviews provide direct insights into market needs and pain points. This feedback loop is vital for refining your value proposition and ensuring your solution aligns with customer expectations. Make sure the team makes decisions based on direct customer feedback and not on their own assumptions or preferences.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Conduct customer interviews and bring valuable insights back to the team.

Midlevel coaches

Facilitate access to customer contacts and ensure the team maintains interview quality.

Senior leaders

Advocate for customer feedback-driven development to align with customer needs.

Success Metric

Validated problem-solution fit

Ensuring a validated problem-solution fit confirms that the product effectively addresses a significant market need. This validation is crucial for customer satisfaction and long-term success.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Test the value propositon with users to confirm it solves a real problem effectively.

Midlevel coaches

Ensure that validated insights reach decision-makers to refine the solution.

Senior leaders

Greenlight further investment only when the problem-solution fit is confirmed and viable.

Success Metric

40% conversion on pitch MVP

A high conversion rate on the MVP pitch indicates strong market interest and product-market fit. It validates the value proposition and suggests that the product meets customer needs effectively.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Pitch the MVP to customers, refine based on feedback, and track conversion rates.

Midlevel coaches

Temporarily add a designer to the team to create a visual representation of the MVP

Senior leaders

Review conversion data to validate product-market fit before scaling further.

Developing the product and sales machine is generating sales. Scaling validated tactics.

Activity Metric

Constant outreach to new prospects

Continuous outreach is necessary to build and execute a working go-to-market strategy. It helps in identifying launcing customers, establishing relationships and having them involved in the product development process.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Perform cold outreach to build validate and build the sales process.

Midlevel coaches

Coordinate prospecting efforts and help prioritize high-value leads.

Senior leaders

Be an ambassador for the project by creating connections and provide access to network.

Success Metric

Go-to-market strategy and unit case are validated

Validating the go-to-market strategy and unit economics ensures that the business can scale sustainably. Before scaling,  ask the team to develop a unit case to make sure there is a proper ROI on their marketing and sales investments.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Execute the go-to-market strategy successfully, meaning a constant flow of new customers. Having build the unit case of the product based on the actual costs of executing the go-to-market strategy.

Midlevel coaches

Analyze go-to-market data to optimize strategies and ensure unit case works.

Senior leaders

Sign off on go-to-market strategy only when it demonstrates sustainable growth potential. Use the unit case to make this assessment.

Success Metric

Product v1 on the market, validating new features

Launching the first version of the product and validating new features ensures continuous improvement and relevance. It helps in adapting to market feedback and staying competitive.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Managing the full customer journey of product version 1. Constantly engage with early adopters to test and validate feature relevance to customer.

Midlevel coaches

Monitor feature validation and performance. Coordinate product updates with the product team.

Senior leaders

Assess the performance of new features to ensure they align with strategic objectives.

The innovation is operational, generating revenue, yet struggles to establish sustainable revenue growth.

Success Metric

Dedicated sales team executing the GTM-strategy

A dedicated sales team is essential for executing and scaling the go-to-market strategy effectively. They bring expertise in sales tactics, customer engagement, and closing deals, which are critical for gaining market traction.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Build the sales team based on the validated go-to-market strategy.

Midlevel coaches

Support the team in attracting sales professionals who match the go-to-market strategy.

Senior leaders

Back the sales team with necessary resources to ensure strategy execution at scale.

Success Metric

Recurring revenue

Recurring revenue provides financial stability and predictability. It indicates customer retention and satisfaction, which are key for sustainable growth and long-term profitability.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Maintain relationships with existing customers to secure renewals and repeat business.

Midlevel coaches

Identify upselling opportunities and support recurring revenue strategies.

Senior leaders

Oversee revenue performance to ensure long-term stability and growth.

Success Metric

Product diversified to multiple customer segments

Diversifying the product to multiple customer segments expands the market reach and reduces dependency on a single segment. This strategy enhances resilience and growth potential.

Role Breakdown
Frontline innovators

Adapt the product pitch for different customer segments and build a working sales machine for each segment.

Midlevel coaches

Help identify and prioritize new segments for the product’s expansion.

Senior leaders

Evaluate and support the diversification strategy to reduce risk and capture new markets.

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