Here is a fictional case study for a business process reengineering class exercise in MBA / PGDM / PGPM classroom. We look at the three phases of an IT founder driven successful startup. Typically, many startups go through these phases. Such examples can be found in many news articles related to Information Technology industry across the world.
Phase 1 – Founder driven startup:
- Founder driven, liberal culture, no set timings for entry and exit, free snacks, product type employee empowerment driven, work hard, 5 days a week working, flexible hours type culture in an IT company
- Good salaries & benefits
- Onsite opportunities
- Most people are with experience with a small percentage of fresh engineers
- Work on niche products & services with good margins
- Few strong partnerships with customers & products / ecosystems
- Small group of founders & investors with clear goals
Phase 2 – Sale to a larger entity / induction of investors or venture capitalists / investment bankers:
- Induction of professional management
- Drive towards IPO
- Drive towards larger revenue & higher growth
- Change in services, partnerships & product mix
- Churn in employees & their loyalty
- Changes in profitability based on services & product mix
- Change of branding
- M&A with other companies or investor portfolio firms
- Related work with similar companies in investor or buying entity group
- Focus on long term sustainability
- Focus on operational excellence
Phase 3 – Stabilization and finding of the “mojo”:
- Stable partnerships, customers & products / services
- Stable margins
- Finding of the mojo product & services mix
- IPO / Investor / VC / M&A stabilization
- Mature phase of branding
- New product / service / offering mix creation
- Newer ventures in new areas
Email me: Neil@HarwaniSystems.in
