That same month, Philip Vafiadis, CEO of VAF Research told me about incriptus. It had won local, national and international technology awards, and two of the founders, Trevor Glen and Michael Terrington, were hard at work building a company to commercialize the technology. I was intrigued.

Given the IDC report,  it was obvious that incriptus is in a rapidly expanding market, where many different solutions are being developed for data back-up and storage.  And even if data centers end up the “winners”, the incriptus technology can make them more efficient.    And so I agreed to become an advisor to incriptus and help them develop their growth strategy.

I work with technology and growth companies all over the world and have been a global thought leader for several international software companies. I know the importance of backing up files.

•  In my last company we used jump drives, and our schedule for backing up files was “when we have time this week” (which often became “this month”!).  We were  backing up files – sort of.
•  I remembered a photography client whose IT Director backed up the files on CDs and stored them in his bedroom! He was doing back-up – sort of.
• I had another client who used a data center for back-up – but had no access to files for two days while the data center frantically transferred the company’s data to another center – before being flooded by a rising river. They had back-up – sort of.

These examples demonstrate the problems with the back-up solutions people are using:

• Someone has to remember to copy files from a computer to a disc or drive which is then stored somewhere in the office or off-site (e.g., a bedroom). While this is better than nothing, it’s not systematic or safe and definitely not secure. Files can be lost between back-ups, backed-up files can be copied, and files can be lost if the disc or drive is damaged by fire, flood – or stolen.
• Files are electronically sent to a data center where they are stored.  Usually they are fragmented, sometimes encrypted, but who knows where the data is stored. And having backed-up files in a common location creates the potential for a “single point of failure” if a fire or flood strikes the data center.

What intrigued me about incriptus is that

(1)    Files are backed-up automatically.  No one has to remember to do it. And the incriptus technology knows if a file is new or has been modified – and automatically backs it up. All this happens in the background – as if by magic!

(2)    Files are fragmented and triple encrypted so no complete file exists any place – and there’s back-up redundancy – which increases the safety and security of backed-up files.

(3)    The fragments of files are sent to a number of different computers and stored on the unused space on the hard drives.  No single file exists on any computer so it can’t be read or copied by anyone.

(4)    Because the files are distributed across a large number of computers, there’s infinite capacity.  As new uses join the “system” (which is actually a “private cloud”), there are more unused hard drives with space available to store additional backed up data.  This mode of back-up and storage is definitely an alternative to data centers which are now using 2+% of the world’s energy.

(5)    And the cost of incriptus data back-up is much less than it is to do manual back-ups or use data centers.

I believe that incriptus has a winning technology, a viable strategy, and a burgeoning market.  But, like every other company with growth potential, it needs continued investment in order to execute on its growth plan. It’s now seeking  a third round of funding.  I hope it’s successful.

Bill Obermeier (www.abrandnewidea.com) and Daniel Feld, Lindsay Ternes, Kevin Menzie, and Jeff Rodenski of Slice of Lime (www.sliceoflime.com) did a great job listening to what I wanted to do, then designing a website that brought my vision into reality.

When it was ready, we sent e-mail announcements to almost 1,000 people all over the world.  I was amazed at the numbers of friends and colleagues who responded – from India, China, Australia, Nigeria, UK, New Zealand – and the USA. They all thought it was a fabulous idea and hoped it would be a success.

Whether or not it is, depends on whether THEY (and YOU) GO – and tell others to go  – to www.bigfastgrowth.com and comment on the current section that’s posted!

So click on www.bigfastgrowth.com, watch the video of Jeff Katz and me talking about the book, then click on the START HERE button, read the section we have posted, and add your stories and lessons learned.

We’ll be posting a new section each week.  At the end of the month I’ll take all the lessons and stories, the four sections we posted, weave them into a brand new chapter, and post that under “Chapters”!  So make it a habit to check in once a week, read the new post, add a comment or a story, and share your insights.

PS – if it’s too gory, you can send it to me in a private e-mail. But join the fun and help write this book.

I sent back an e-mail that I was overdue for a trip to Boston and how ‘bout if I came to see him?  He said it would be great to see me – whenever my schedule permitted.

I flew to Boston four days later.  While I was grumbling about waiting for the bus and missing the commuter train,  Jim was taking his last trip – in an ambulance – and thanking those who carried him into the hospice house.

I got to the hospice house at noon on Saturday. What a lovely place it was – warm,  friendly and caring. Jim opened his eyes and recognized me. He could hardly talk, and I told him he didn’t need to – we’d just hold hands, and I’d reminisce about our times together.

I thanked him for his friendship and patience when we were writing our book, Winning Combinations.  When I discovered I had cancer.  Jim said, “Don’t worry.  You just write what you can, and if we need to go slower, I’ll explain to the editor at John Wiley.”  And I recalled the time he was scheduled to give the final report and his flight was cancelled.  Our client chartered a private plane to pick him up so Jim could deliver the recommendations.  He was a memorable speaker – rational and eloquent – an unusual combination!  He was a dreamer, a broad thinker, yet a very approachable person who was delighted by all the challenges and delights that life offered up to him. As I talked, Jim drifted off.

Jim died the next day. He went quickly and quietly, and I’m grateful I made it in time to say good-bye. Thank you, Jim. Because of you I am a better writer, a deeper thinker, a bigger dreamer, and a more interesting presenter. Already I miss you.

Local firm Innovyz (formerly known as SME Growth Capital) has become a member of the TechStars Network and has acquired a four-year license to offer a mentor-driven program similar to TechStars. The program in Australia will be called InnovyzStart.

TechStars in America counts phone-controlled robotics developer Orbotix and cloud-based email service SendGrid among its successes.

International expert on entrepreneurial growth and leadership guru Dr Jana Matthews will lead the three-month program at InnovyzStart. She has a doctorate from Harvard, is an international expert on entrepreneurial leadership and business growth, an author and an entrepreneur.  Over the years she has worked in South Australia with Innovate SA and the SA Venture Capital Board, as well as the ICEHOUSE in New Zealand..

“It’s about teaching entrepreneurs how to accelerate at the speed of growth, which is not growing incrementally but big leapfrog jumps,” she said.

Dr Matthews said the experience in the US indicates  that many of the start-ups that come to a city to participate in the program remain after the program is over.  They want to be close to the community that develops around the program, e.g., other CEOs in the program, local mentors, and service providers.

Only 10 companies will be accepted to the three-month Innovyz Start program, which will run in 2012.

Each founder will be given a $6,000 stipend  (up to three founders per company) from funds raised by Innovyz.  On the last day of the program they will have the opportunity to meet potential investor and make a bid for equity funding.

Mentors from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Twitter, foursquare, Warner Music and Starbucks have been involved with the four US TechStars programs which get 800 – 1,000+ applications for 10 spots. Local organisers hope to attract candidates of equal calibre to SA for the immersive course.

The TechStars Boulder program – which the company credits with helping transform the small Colorado town’s economy into America’s second “Silicon Valley” – topped a 2011 ranking of US start-up accelerators.

TechStars Boston came in 5th and TechStars Seattle made 7th place.

Candidates will be selected on the “breakthrough” merit of their proposed innovation.

Innovyz’s senior partner Stuart Douglas said InnovyzStart would act as a magnet in the region, attracting some of the best ideas from interstate and overseas.

“By having a program here, by bringing in brilliant mentors from around Australia and the world, by having someone direct the program who has created world-class programs and was recruited to the founding team of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, we are going to attract really cool technology into Adelaide which we’ll commercialise and then export from Adelaide,” he said. “We have the opportunity to position Adelaide as a hub for innovation.”

Mr Douglas said a key aim of the program was to cut the time a start-up company requires to get to market, float or sell to a larger entity – from eight to 10 years to three years.

The company hopes to secure sponsors for InnovyzStart (some of whom may also be involved as mentors) in 2011 and deliver the program in 2012.

Dr Mathews has delivered several entrepreneurial growth programs for Innovate SA.  Chief executive, Greg Boundy, said she was a “leader in that space” and he agreed that the Innovyz Start program could be a significant boon for the local economy.

“We envisage that an expanded program with her involvement and leadership would be extremely beneficial to local businesses and entrepreneurs,” he said.

TechStars claims a 90 per cent success rate: Since 2007, 81 per cent of its graduates are still active and 10 per cent have been acquired by other companies.

Stephen Boyd, Program Manager for InnovyzStart said the company would run one program next year but planned to conduct two in 2013, and then three a year thereafter.

I get a rush when I am sitting on plane, ready to take off. For me, flights are a kind of bridge between my known life, and the new adventure waiting for me when I land.

Sometimes the adventure is working with a CEO and a 17 member team to identify the reasons for their communications problems, then providing knowledge and tools to fix the breakdowns.  Sometimes it’s working with a CEO who is “drowning” to develop a mission and vision for the company, then helping him or her articulate a set of values that define the company’s culture. And sometimes it’s helping the CEO and team reassess their go-to-market strategies and choose the ones that will provide faster penetration into markets.

I often talk with CEOs about building a bridge between where they are and where they want the company to go. First we assess where the company is now and what’s working/not working.  Next we identify where they want to be.  Then we talk about what they need to do to get from here to there, e.g., develop a new sales strategy; have an honest conversation with an employee who’s not meeting expectations; change the way he or she leads and delegate more . In effect we define the “bridge” the CEOs need to build to get from where they are to where they want to be – the bridge that will position the company for growth.

Most CEOs and employees find the bridge analogy very helpful.  Although they appreciate the need to take stock, some are shocked when they discover that their foundations are pretty weak. Since it doesn’t make sense to build a bridge on weak footings, we first have to strengthen the foundations before we construct the bridge – and that requires change, e.g.,  putting some people on a performance improvement plan, reorganizing departments, getting control of cash flow, or securing capital for growth. Then we create the plan that moves them, step by step, to where they want to be.

As they work their way across the bridge, you can feel the excitement grow:  employees are challenged in new ways; the CEO becomes a more confident leader;  customers are better served; and revenue grows! And when the whole company makes it across the bridge, and the CEO  can tell the employees that they have achieved their goals for the year, there’s an incredible rush.  In fact, it’s almost like sitting on a plane and waiting for take-off to some new adventure!

The last five CEOs I’ve worked with have all struggled with “how to choose the most appropriate go-to-market strategy (ies)” for their products or services. By the time I got involved, they had already spent a lot of time and money trying to penetrate the wrong market – or had been using the wrong mix of channels to reach their target market.

Jeff, on the other hand, figured this out early at Mercury.  He chose a non-traditional go-to-market strategy that catapulted Mercury, in six years, from nowhere to the ranks of the top twenty credit card processors in the world. I began working with Mercury when they had 30 employees and continued working with them for three years – until they had almost 300 employees. I – and everyone who worked with Jeff  - learned to think differently about channels and markets.

In spite of Mercury’s success, Jeff and I decided our book would not be about Mercury (although that is a great story), but about what  a CEO needs to think about when choosing and implementing  a successful go to-market strategy that creates big fast growth for the company.

We also decided this should be a book written in collaboration with its readers so that others who have stories, lessons learned and useful comments about go-to-market strategies for fast growth can contribute to the book.  The chapters of the book, which we’re calling Big Fast Growth (www.BigFastGrowth.com) will be written in sequence with each posted on our site.  We want people to comment on each post, post videos or tell us stories of their own  experiences, e.g., why they chose a particular strategy, how they implemented it, whether it was successful, and if not, why not.

Jeff and I will review all comments and incorporate insights and stories from our readers into each chapter, then post that chapter to the website as a “finished chapter”.  Over time we’ll finish all the chapters in “the book”.  We may decide to publish it electronically or in print – or leave all the content on the BigFastGrowth website.  The point is, CEOs will have the knowledge and information they need to choose their go-to-market strategy months – perhaps years – earlier than if we wrote and published a “traditional” book.

We hope you are as excited about our “interactive book” as we are.  If so check it out: www.BigFastGrowth.com and post a comment, ask a question, or send us an e-mail with a link to a video that you’ve posted on YouTube! We look forward to writing this book with you!

When I talk about “leading the planning process”, I have some very specific things in mind that leaders need to do.

Set the foundation by reviewing the mission, values and vision of the company, as well as the developing the goals and strategies to be pursued this year.

Communicate this to the whole company.  Your company can’t grow if the plan stays in the heads or a few people. It’s essential to get it out of your heads and on paper. When people understand where you want to go, amazing things happen. They begin to think about how to get there, they help you assess the risks, the costs and benefits, the trade-offs and begin to “buy in” to making it happen.

Engaging employees is critical. They need to understand where you want to take the company, how all the parts work together, how their individual performance contributes to the company’s success.

Set quantitative goals, then measure, in other words, “inspect” what you “expect” and then communicate progress.  Saying something like “In September we outsold August by a country mile.” is good.  But saying “It’s the beginning of Q4 and we’ve achieved 90% of our revenue goal.  We only need $3.2M more by Dec. 31, and I am confident we can do that.” is even better.

Expect people to perform at high levels.  I once heard a very successful CEO say people will live up to your expectations, and if you have none, they will live down to them. Leaders should expect, exhort, cajole, use tough love, do whatever’s necessary to get managers and employees to understand that you’re very serious about achieving the goals that are laid out in the plan.

Leaders have to provide feedback to people who aren’t performing, and they must “walk the talk” themselves. I worked with one company whose managers weren’t doing performance reviews on time – some not at all. While the CEO had approved the performance review process we designed, he wasn’t following the process.  Instead, he was writing individual letters to his direct reports about all the wonderful things they had done and how lucky the company was to have them.  He was no role model for how to do performance reviews.  Although his direct reports liked hearing what they did right – they wanted feedback on “areas for development”.  Once he began following the process, other managers did too, and the company soon had a successful performance review process in place – and performance improved across the board.

Finally, take time to communicate achievement and celebrate success. If you’ve done your planning, you have goals and clear definitions of success. Take time to call out individual performance. Hold up people as role models. Celebrate departmental and company performance. As one CEO said, “Bring your family, party hat, dancing shoes and big time stories – it’s time to celebrate a great quarter.” And don’t forget to share the financial rewards with those who produce.

Step forward to the future. Imagine your company (or your department) three years from today.

What does it look like? What are your big successes? What’s changed? What’s remained the same? How much of your vision will you have achieved by then?

Sometimes it’s difficult to plan three years ahead.  But try to fast forward to that spot, then mentally turn around and “look back” at your company today.  Then ask “What needs to happen, each year, to get my company to this place in three years (or whatever your time frame)?” Getting from “here to there” can be a quite scary – like climbing a mountain you’ve never climbed before.

But if you can mentally “fly to the top of the mountain” and look down, you can begin to see a route that makes sense.  The seemingly insurmountable now becomes achievable when you break your grand vision into incremental steps that can be accomplished in months, quarters and years.  We call it going “Back to the Future”.

How to Get “Back to the Future”

Here’s an example.  If your vision includes being a global company, you want to be selling in 3 new countries in 3 years, that will require several years to accomplish – and will impact several years’ plans.

So let’s go “back to the future” with this goal.

Assume it’s three years from now.  Imagine your company is selling your products in – pick three countries – let’s say China, India and Brazil.

You begin by asking:

• How long did it take to ramp up sales and marketing in each country?  [Probably at least a year, AFTER we had an office, had hired sales people, and have developed marketing materials.]
• OK – then how long did to take to establish a country office, including the infrastructure needed to connect our home office – before we could begin selling? [First we’d need to hire the person to direct the office and have him/her involved in the selection of the office location, fitting out the office, decisions about the technology infrastructure, which people to hire in which positions.]

Clearly the starting point is people. After you’ve selected the person to head the office, that person can help you find office space and begin recruiting the additional people in the new office, determine what marketing collateral is right for that country. Assume 3-6 months to find the right people and 3-6 months to locate, set-up and move into an office. That’s a lot of time but just getting a phone line installed in some countries can take months.

In the following year, you’d ramp up marketing and sales.  You’ll need your local country staff to design and execute on the marketing and sales plan. Then there’d be the cost of recruiting and training staff, rent, IT hardware, software, travel, telecom, and tariffs. Hmmmm. You begin to wonder if you can afford to launch in three new countries in the next three years.  But can we afford not to?

These kinds of questions may frustrate the “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” or the “we’ll figure this out as we go” CEOs.  But growth is risky enough when you’ve assessed the costs and tried to anticipate what can go wrong. When you “look back from the future”, you can see more clearly – and can readjust priorities, move aggressively to overcome anticipated obstacles, or look for alternatives if certain initiatives are just too expen

In this case, when you “look back” you may decide to alter your plan – launch in one country at a time, rather than three at once, or roll out the three country expansion over five years, or find a partner in the country, use sales reps – or seek outside financing  if you think there is a narrow “window of opportunity”.

Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies are, by definition, forward focused.  But by “looking back,” you gain a different perspective on what’s required to achieve your goals – and more reality about the timeframes required. The CEO, President and  Executive team must work together to translate the vision into reality.

Summary

Always begin by identifying your customers, and then defining your vision, values, goals and strategies.  Build the plan around them. [See my blog on Essential Elements of a Plan]

Understand the multi-step planning process.  Expect departments to develop Action Plans to achieve the goals and strategies you and the Executive Team have selected. [See my blog on the 11 step planning process]

Finalize, then implement the plan, track results, review progress, and hold people accountable. If they are not achieving the goals, ask why.  Make changes as needed, but be prepared to find other people who can and will do what’s necessary to achieve your company’s goals.

Planning charts the course to growth and your future. Whether you plan one year at a time or go “back to the future” to plan goals that take multiple years to achieve, involve your people in the development of the plan, give them the resources, and then hold them account able for executing the plan. Finally, don’t forget to celebrate victories and share the rewards with those who produce.

By this time I’m sure you understand why I say, “Your planning process is as important as your actual plan in the development of your company.”

Do the following in Q3 of your fiscal year:

Step 1 External Assessments are important because they force you to stop being inwardly focused and force you to look out and assess your external environment, e.g., review your markets, customers, competition, trends, major opportunities and threats.

Step 2 Internal Assessments are used to determine whether your organization can sustain more growth. You need to assess your people, culture, Executive Team, infrastructure, IT hardware and software, and so forth.

Step 3: Review and modify, if necessary your mission, values, vision.

Step 4: Establish the goals and strategies for the coming year and then do Steps 5 – 8 in Q4:

Step 5: Ask the divisions and the departments to draft their Action Plans which describe how they will achieve the goals, using the strategies you identified.

Step 6: Schedule an “off-site” Planning Retreat where each director presents his or her plans to other directors, and/or the Executive Team.  Depending on what other departments are planning to do, the drafts of individual Action Plans may need to change.  If the product isn’t scheduled for launch until Q3 and sales and marketing was assuming a Q2 launch, they’ll need to adjust their plans.  If several departments complain they don’t have the information they need to manage, IT may need to add “selection and installation of new software and hardware” to its plans and budgets for the coming year.

Step 7: Department directors then finalize Action Plans and turn them in for approval.  Note:  the responsibility to make sure budgets, plans and timelines are aligned rests on the shoulders of the Executive Team, President and the CEO.

Step 8, Final approval of individual plans, development of a company-wide plan (a summary version of the detailed departmental Action Plans), and development of the budget (and financial plan) should all happen the last month of the fiscal year.

The following happens in the new year:

Step 9:  At the beginning of the new fiscal year, you announce the company’s plan, send budgets to each department, and put those plans into action.

Step 10: It’s now all about execution, i.e., working the plan every day.  As they say, “Plan your work and work your plan”.

Step 11 Build in times, at the end of each quarter, for a one-day off-site Plan Review with your Executive Team to reevaluate progress, discuss changes in market conditions, and make adjustments to the plan, as needed. While you may need to adjust the strategies and Action Plans, try hard to stick to your goals.

Technology plays a critical role in planning. Enterprise software programs are very helpful. You need to mine your databases and look at trends in sales, revenue, and expenses. Use technology to track progress and to help identify weak spots or early warning signs of cash flow crises, or pending problems in inventory or sales. If planning brings order to the chaos of growth, technology is a critical support to the planning process.