SubscribePortfolio management is a critical activity for any business leader, be it a General Manager or a Venture Capitalist. This article offers a case study on portfolio management with a focus on value-net1 and the economic value of portfolio companies. The intent is to provide an analysis of the portfolio that can serve as the basis for growth strategy.
The success of any business initiative depends on the value delivered to its customers. While immediate customers are important for near-term growth, the long-term viability of a company hinges on the value delivered to eventual customers, i.e. customer’s customer. Hence a view of how you serve your eventual customers is important in portfolio management. Several business entities, called value-net1 partners, are involved in the process of delivering value to end customers.
The Portfolio:
Rajesh Setty is a successful CEO and now a venture capitalist with a growing portfolio of companies.
Following is a brief description of 3 of his portfolio companies:
An innovative approach to solving the content marketing challenges. Content such as white paper and ebooks are better managed to ensure that it is efficiently delivered to the target audience. Since the company is still in a stealth mode, a fictitious name, ContentKing, is used.
- Jiffle3 :
Jiffle brings efficiency and intelligence to event marketing activities. It offers a simple and intuitive web portal for event managers to schedule and manage client engagements at events. In addition, customers can generate various reports on the efficacy of their participation at various events by product line, region, etc.
- iCharts4 :
iCharts business service allows one to easily build sophisticated, searchable online charts. iCharts makes it easy for customers, journalists and others to find, reuse and republish your data — helping proliferation of your data across the web.
Analysis of the above portfolio companies highlighted a common theme in their value proposition. There were opportunities for collaboration among portfolio companies and also opportunities to expand the value range of services.
A common theme among the 3 portfolio companies is that their immediate customers are demand generation teams. Hence these 3 portfolio companies influence the adoption of product/service by the eventual customers. However they are at different stages of the AIDA – Marketing model5.
AIDA – Model 5:
There are 4 stages in the AIDA model – Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action. A customer first has to be aware of the existence of the product then be interested in learning more about the product, then have the desire/need to buy the product and eventually be convinced that it is the right product in order to buy it. Support is added as the last stage by some marketing professionals. Different tools, tactics and activities are required to be effective at each of the stages.
The dynamics of each of the stages in the AIDA model are different. As you progress from Awareness to Action, the number leads decreases while the cost per lead increases. The following is an illustration of this dynamics. The numbers in figure 1 and 2 illustrate the relative scales. The actual value varies by product and industry.
Figure 1
Mapping the Portfolio on the AIDA Model:
The 3 portfolio companies are mapped on the AIDA model in figure 2. The immediate target customers are listed below the portfolio company. Finally, the Assets/Capabilities of the VC, Rajesh Setty, is also mapped to highlight the investor’s affinity to their domain expertise.
iCharts4 is at the cusp between Awareness and Interest. The interactive charts not only build awareness to a company’s offering but also generate interest in the offering by providing interactive charts that offer more details. ContentKing2 deals with whitepapers and eBooks, hence heavily in the interest phase. Jiffle3 is placed in the Decision stage but can play well into the action phase. The meetings at conferences and tradeshows influence the decision and at time deals are closed at these meetings.
Figure 2
The Conclusion:
The mapping in Figure 2 provides a bird’s eye view of the strategic position of the portfolio companies in the AIDA model. This can serve as the foundation to develop strategic growth initiatives for the individual companies as well as help VCs manage their portfolio companies.
Considering the price per lead at each stage of the AIDA model, one can get a sense of the valuation as well as revenue potential of the portfolio companies. The portfolio manger can evaluate collaboration opportunities among the portfolio companies and also opportunities to invest in new companies.
The individual portfolio companies can brainstorm whether it makes strategic sense to expand along the AIDA model. It also forces the portfolio companies to think beyond their immediate customers by engaging in initiatives and partnerships to help product/services companies in their pursuit to close sales.
Note:
- Value Net:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_network
- Brandenburger, A. M. and B. J. Nalebuff. “The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy,” Harvard Business Review, July – August 1995
- ContentKing: http://www.rajeshsetty.com (watch the URL for announcements)
- Jiffle: http://www.jifflenow.com
- iCharts: http://www.ichartsbusiness.com
- AIDA Model: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA_(marketing)
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