Pro-Bono Project November 2015

Transcript

1. Aligning for the future
2. Objectives Context • Carolyn and Paul had initial discussion in 2014 about using the Good Ones model to work with corporations (specifically @ BCG) to improve corporate cultures, break down silos and create powerful connections. Following up in 2015, Paul was still passionate about helping them figure this out. This project was outlined to help the Good Ones team understand their future direction and positioning Objectives • Define Good Ones core strengths and capabilities • Identify options for moving forward • Identify opportunities for improvement • Begin to develop clear internal and external messaging
3. Key Themes • Good Ones resonates strongly with “customers” • Extreme (good) focus on individual connections • Passionate Good Ones team & Founders • Deliver on mission to create meaningful connections • Very strong understanding of what Good Ones creates Strengths • Confusion about What Good Ones as an organization is and the direction it is headed • Clearer understanding of how to transition organization and deciding which path to take • Prioritizing on next steps Development Opportunities
4. What you do…
5. Very clear that what you do is Connect People What do they do? • “They are really good at connecting people” • “They are good connectors” • “Collect and connect fascinating people” • “Collect people that create synergy” • “Connecting people in organic ways for love, friendship and work”
6. Three key themes emerged Connect and create relationships • “Bridge connections while catalyzing friendships” • “Business, love, friendships” • “Break down barriers” An Open and Creative community • “Enable people to showcase and be open about their greatest talents” • “Build great communities with brightest” • “Enable people to stay in their #1 cities” • “Create amazing environments” Elevate people to new heights • Tell stories of brands, people and venues (people, place and things)
7. Some key themes emerged about what you do… An Open and Creative community • “Enable people to showcase and be open about their greatest talents” • “Build great communities with brightest” • “Enable people to stay in their #1 cities” • “Create amazing environments” What How Impact Connect and create relationships • “Bridge connections while catalyzing friendships” • “Business, love, friendships” • “Break down barriers” Elevate people to new heights • Tell stories of brands, people and venues (people, place and things) • Connections beyond events that add value to communities
8. However, understanding of organization is NOT clear Many different messages • “a social impact company with a global mission to affect change.” • “It is trying to be the tangible version of facebook” • “Our mission is to be offline connectors in a world that is preocupied with technology” • “The Good Ones is a live platform that designs & delivers social networks. Our events are high in personal touch and customer service, resulting in live-interactions that lead to social network cultivation. Our services support the full life cycle of building a social network for the purpose of business, fundraising, romance and friendship” • “The Good Ones is focused on helping metropolitans, construct and maintain their social networks. Led by connectors and entrepreneurs, our Membership monetizes traditional networking, by scaling the delivery of relevant introductions. In beta mode, we are offering parties with three flexible payment options. Our pricing model was designed to easily transfer to three subsequent verticals: corporate, residential and academic.” • “We want to support non-profit charities” • “We are a pro-bono Marketing service”
9. This confusion can be seen in online messaging We are intrinsically invested in helping people build their social circles in an organic way. The Good Ones positions people to enjoy an environment where the focus shifts from technology -- to live, human interaction. Our community inspires ideas. Our curated events and house parties are designed to spark conversations that lead to lasting relationships. From fitness and fashion, to the arts and venue exploration, we look forward to meeting you. It's time for something new. For business, love and friendship. Our curated events & house parties are designed to spark conversations, that lead to lasting relationships. Private Membership includes access to three (3) social experiences each month. Website
10. Website emphasizes different things
11. How you do it…
12. Core Process is very clear for current business model Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” Value Creation Secret Sauce =
13. Very clear need internally Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” Value Creation Secret Sauce = “Imagine someone who does not have great friends, they do not have someone to talk to about their boring jobs” Our members face these challenges: 1. Identifying who is relevant to them 2. Scheduling meet-ups 3. Developing and maintaining each relationship in a way that is enjoyable, productive, and mindful of life's
14. But given the potential shift in business model, others are confused Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” Value Creation Secret Sauce = “Why are they doing these parties?” “Not sure if they are solving or have identified a critical need”
15. Getting to the “Good Ones” is relatively straightforward Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” Value Creation = Secret Sauce The core team understands the type of people that make up the “Good Ones” and there is a defined process for screening and accepting people
16. The “Secret Sauce” is less well defined Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” “Carolyn talks about their secret sauce…but I’m not sure what it is?” Value Creation Secret Sauce = => Currently developing standardized psychological test and screening
17. Rely on a number of key enablers to create incredible experiences Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” Value Creation Secret Sauce = • Getting things at no cost • Getting the right people in a room • Connecting diverse and influential people • Breaking down barriers Many things enable them to deliver on incredible experiences Key Question: Are you spending the right amount of time on the “enablers”?
18. Many potential elements of the “secret sauce” – but still potential to define it… • Quality of people • Social engineering at events • A lot of care and time put into cultivating the “right connections” • Technology • Developing technology platform and app • Psychology driven data assessment • “The Good Ones is focused on developing a Social Webbing AlgorithmTM that includes over 20 variables (ontologies) relevant to producing a cohesive, innovative, and diverse social environment.” • “Development and launch of our home-grown Personality SnapShot survey system, that will pull real time data from our members to supplement information drawn from LinkedIn and Facebook”
19. Externally, the “matrix” resonates “The Matrix is special, but they haven’t branded it marketed it and put it on the shelf”
20. You are creating a lot of value for people Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” Value Creation Secret Sauce =
21. But it is happening beyond your events. Value Creation “I should be paying them much more than I do” “The real value is after the event” “I made some real friends that I still hang out with” How to capture this value?
22. Key Questions for reflection Boston Community Vetting Process “Good Ones” Value Creation Secret Sauce = What critical problem are we solving? How do we make this as efficient as possible? What does the ideal “Good Ones” community look like (size, location, experience, price point)? What is the experience we are delivering and what makes it special or scalable? How do we better capture the value we are already creating and continue to add value to the community?
23. Building an Organization
24. Strength is connecting people, not building organization
25. “What is holding them back?” – A non-scientific breakdown of challenges to reflect on… Really good at what you currently do • “I think they are having too much fun, there is not enough pain” • “Great at what they do” Hard to transition to a new type of organization? • “Don't see it as a services organization, see it as a sales organization” • On business: “They don’t have experience facilitating events, they can host the event. Hard to translate to organizational learning – a different skill Focus • “#1 Issue – scaling” • “Wants to do everything. Needs to pick a lane”
26. You have stated many different goals, but which one is the top priority? Various stated goals (website, interviews and documents) • “Increasing membership and scaling quality without losing skill” • “Good Ones is focused on generating revenue to improve technology and expand our team.” • Short term growth will be contingent on attracting top “connectors”, who will advocate for our brand and apply their talents to be impactful.” • “Having served over 3,000 individuals in Boston, we are focused on expansion to 20,000 members over the next two years.” • “We want to work with organizations to help them break down barriers and create a better workplace”
27. You have aspirations to deliver value to many groups Different focuses require different organizations • Build technology platform • Add value to current members and recruit more • Deliver Services • Businesses • Residential • Colleges/Universities • Sales & Events Organization • Current events model • Charities? Add value to high profile events
28. Different constituents require different capabilities Goal: Grow memberships and develop core processes that can scale in different markets Capabilities Required: • Building technology platform • Scalable internal processes • Defined Sales Goal: Add incremental value to organizations to deliver on their unique mission or goals Capabilities Required • Organizational learning • Business relationships • Business sales approach and impact ($$) focused pitces Service Goal: Scalable technology platform that adds value and makes core processes more efficient Capabilities Required • Continuous improvement of technology aligned with learning • Talented technology talent ($$) Technology
29. How to get there – Option 1 1. Scale current business • Define process for membership growth • Align on right pricing model • Get technology right • Scale and focus 100% on growth Metrics • # of members • Member satisfaction (core strength) • Revenue growth _ + • Build on successes building this business • Profitable growth with enable other potential investment opportunities • Not able to deliver on other options immediately • May be hard to shift organizational strategy once aligned around membership growth
30. How to get there – Option 2 _ + • Use current platform to fund pro-bono or no risk experiments aligned around learning and testing of new business direction • Low-risk way to test and experiment and align for future growth • May not be able to devote adequate resources to new ventures while also growing core model at the same time 2. Scale current business • Define process for membership growth • Align on right pricing model • Get technology right • Scale and focus 100% on growth • Pilot experiments testing new business model in business, residential, schools Metrics • # of members • Member satisfaction (core strength) • Revenue growth • Metrics to assess learning (Lean startup approach)
31. How to get there – Option 3 3. “Automate” party events and shift focus • Standardize business operations • Identify one focus (business, residential, etc..) and dedicate 50%+ time on understanding the model and building that business Metrics • Impact to clients • Revenue potential • Speed of learning _ + • Clear focus on delivering value to EXTERNAL organizations rather than building out Good Ones community • Will be able to learn very fast • Potentially much higher revenue potential • May not have the right organizational capabilities to quickly shift to new type of delivery model • Level of talent needed hard to find • High-risk – may lose focus on core membership platform and not be able to continue to grow
32. This is a moment of inflection – need to ask some hard questions? 1. Why do you want to move to delivering services to businesses, residential communities, universities? 2. How are you measuring your learning from experimenting with the new business model? 3. What specific outcome of pilots with new business model would give us the information about moving forward/not moving forward? 4. What capabilities do we need to add to get to where we want to go?
33. Benchmarking
34. IVY is a great organization to learn from on messaging While IVY has a very different core value… • Not focused on individual connections (figure it out later mentality) • Scaling globally, add services later …they have done a good job of developing a consistent message Source: IVY.com
35. IVY has very clear messaging IVY fuels inspiration, ignites minds, and sparks world-changing collaborations. BELIEFS & MISSION • We believe everyone has limitless potential. Our mission is to trigger transformative ideas and collaborations that lead to unprecedented human unity, progress, and fulfillment. Through meaningful experiences with inspiring individuals, IVY provides a lifelong supply of new friendships, opportunities, and ideas. VISION • Our vision is to build the world's most impactful community across 50 global cities, and unite everyone who is passionate about creating a better world. Source: IVY.com
36. …and a clear process HOW IT WORKS • IVY is the world's first Social University, created to unite thoughtful individuals through a lifetime of new inspiration and connections. Our curriculum is focused on Arts, Entrepreneurship, Policy, Well-being, and Social Impact. Every month, IVY members are invited to a wide variety of IVY Gatherings that include salon discussions with distinguished thought- leaders, art nights, cocktail and dinner parties, film screenings, theater and symphony performances, fitness and wellness activities, and getaways. IVY.com provides a dedicated portal for our members to engage with our community, and IVY Magazine showcases the most compelling stories from our members and thought-leaders. • All prospective members are interviewed one-on-one prior to joining, and they commit to supporting each other's endeavors to the best of their abilities. Everything we do is highly social, intellectually stimulating, culturally enriching, and professionally rewarding. Our mission is to spark unprecedented human unity, progress, and fulfillment. Source: IVY.com
37. Transparent Criteria allows for self-selection People • IVY unites talented, energetic, and intellectually curious individuals who are driven by a fundamental desire to make a positive and lasting impact on their communities. Our members represent a diverse range of industries, backgrounds, and interests, but share a distinctly innovative and collaborative spirit Source: IVY.com
38. Potential Exercise
39. 1. Define your customer Who is your customer?
40. 2. What is the core need? What is the one thing you want to solve for your customer?
41. 3. What beliefs do you hold true that uniquely position you to solve this problem? What makes your organization unique or special?
42. 4. How does Good Ones deliver on solving that core need? _______________ What does the process look like?
43. 5. How will you know if you are successful? (What is the measure of success?) _______________ What is the measure of success?
44. 6. What does success look like? _______________ What does success look like to your customer? _______________ What does success look like for your organization?
45. 7. What are the three priorities for Good ones in the next six months? _______________ _______________ _______________ 1 2 3 _______________ _______________ _______________ How to measure: Priorities
46. 8. Aligning personal goals… Carolyn = ___________ Jennifer = ___________ IVA = ___________ What is the one thing I need to make sure happens no matter what in the next six months