EXECUTION MATTERS, especially in this market

In the 2023 Execution Chapter, we aim to help companies address common areas of friction when it comes to getting things done^tm. We’re not focusing on the product, the strategy, marketing, or the people involved. Instead, we’re examining how a company is performing compared to the opportunity set in front of it, and providing guidance on how to build a solid foundation on which to execute from.

This information is important in a world where it’s becoming even more crucial to be efficient and adaptable. Investors are looking for leaders who can manage costs and burn while still achieving significant growth. This more balanced or sustainable approach is a great chance for New Zealand companies to take advantage of their relative capital efficiency, and have a closer look at how they can even further improve their effectiveness.

Want to go deeper? Here is a Mark Suster article we here at Movac love, which describes the evolution of capital markets and the way businesses are built (‘growth at all costs’ v sustainably) in respect of global economic cycles. We are pleased to be back to building more sustainable businesses:

During this era, from 2009–2015, most founders I knew were in it for building great & sustainable companies. They wanted to build new products, solve problems that were unfilled by the last generation of software companies and grow revenue year-over-year while holding costs in check. Raising capital remained difficult but possible and valuations were tied to underlying performance metrics.

Meet Paul

Paul Shingles is the perfect person to deliver the Execution Chapter. He’s a seasoned tech campaigner and a swiss army knife: his senior leadership experience spans operations, product strategy, sales, commercial proposition development and governance.

As the COO of Pushpay, Paul oversaw product and operations from scrappy startup, through IPO and on to becoming one of New Zealand’s handful of tech unicorns. Following Pushpay, Paul joined Timely as Chief Customer Officer and later COO, building growth through the launch of their international offices, and bringing on new revenue channels through commercial partnerships and product development. Paul was instrumental in the sale of Timely to EverCommerce in 2021. He now focuses on advising a number of NZ’s leading CEOs, including working with the Movac portfolio companies.

Upcoming events line-up:

#7 Taking the Pain Out of Annual Strategy Planning

Agenda: Hosted by Paul Shingles, in this highly practical session hear how to run an annual strategy planning process that isn’t painful, from leading COOs on what has worked well in their businesses:

This session is for CEO, COO and CFOs.

Details: 10 October, 9-12noon, in person, NZTE, followed by lunch 12pm – 12.45pm. This session is reserved for Movac portfolio companies.

Past 2023 events:

#1 SaaS Metrics 101: SaaS Metrics that Matter

Agenda: Key metrics to measure your business performance with, why they’re important, and which metrics matter at which stages. This session will cover why we measure Brick & Mortar businesses and SaaS businesses differently, how they’re valued, how to calculate the following metrics and what they tell you about your business. ARR/ACMR, MRR, ARPU/ARPC, CAC, LTV, CAC: LTV, Churn.

This session is open to all start-up company employees.  It’s helpful for all growth company staff to understand how their business performance is described, and why these measures are important.

Details: 8 March, 9-10am online. Registrations closed.

#2 SaaS Metrics 102: Efficiency Metrics that Matter

Agenda: Key SaaS efficiency metrics. How to tell the difference between good growth and … less good growth.  Measuring your pipeline and looking for opportunities in spend. We will cover the nuances of CAC and what goes into it, what CAC Months is and why it’s important.  We’ll look at the relationship between Churn, Revenue, and LTV and how this impacts what you can spend on marketing. We’ll look at Leads vs Opportunities vs Accounts and the respective conversion rates, and how the time to close a deal changes how you need to look at conversion.

While open to all employees, this session will be better suited for CEOs, COOs, and tech operators responsible for core performance metrics.

Details: 15 March, 9-10am, online. Registrations closed.

#3 Competitor Research

Agenda: In this workshop, learn why it’s good to know what your competitors are up to, what resources to use to get a good understanding of your competitors, and how to keep tabs on their activity.  By the end of this workshop you will have developed a competitor template that can be used to develop “battlecards” for any competitor you’re tracking.

This session is for product, marketing and sales leaders.

Details: 3 May, 9-10am online. Registrations closed.

#4 How to: High-Impact Boards

Agenda: Join Lisa Nelson (Movac Advisor, founder of Microsoft’s M12 Ventures), Paul Shingles (Movac Operating Partner, ex Timely and Pushpay), Mark Stuart (Movac, Partner) and select leading CEOs for a fireside discussion on how to get the most out of your board meetings.

The speakers provide the Investor Director, CEO and executive management team (who feed into the governance process) perspectives, and will discuss everything from best practice content and process for board papers, to how to hold individual members accountable.

This session is for CEOs, executive management teams and start-up directors.

Details: 17 May, 9-10am, online. Registrations closed.

#5 How to Execute A Price Change

Agenda: This deep dive workshop provides a practical guide to for businesses considering a price change. We will cover what to look for when deciding whether to change price or the pricing structure, including grandfather or not, how to manage the communications cycle, and more.

This is a cross functional session. Select business leaders from marketing, commercial, product and sales will cover the interactions, needs and considerations from the perspective of their function.

Details: 12 July, 9-12noon, in person, Auckland. This session is reserved for Movac portfolio companies. Registrations closed.

#6 Building Accountability Into Your Organisation 

Agenda:  In this workshop, learn how to build leadership rituals that yield transparency, accountability, and cross functional support to solving the most important problems. This session will cover why the inspection function is critical to truly understanding your business’ performance, why hyper recent, transparent data on a regular cadence is critical, how and which systems and processes to put into place, including what to track, and who is involved, and when to take action from insight.

This session is for CEOs and Head of’s.

Details: 30 August, 9-12noon, in person, Auckland. Registrations closed.