SavvyX: The Smarter Growth Recipe for Start-Ups

Every Start-Up has an origin story. This is where you read ours... we call it: Meet the Yin & Yang (E)Intrapreneurs.

Our intention is that our shared experience, packaged in this book as well as the accompanying Recipes and Templates, will give you as a Start-Up leader the knowledge, structure, and speed you need for your Start-Up's long-term growth.

This section is dedicated to CEOs and Founders to acknowledge their vision, their courage, and their fortitude in initiating their Start-Up. There are things that keep CEOs and Founders up at night that others may never know about... but we understand. And we recognize you for being willing to take the (calculated) risk of doing it all anyway.

• CEO & Founder Letter
• Challenges
• Key Ingredients
• Build your Foundation

This section addresses the bigger picture of your destination - the unified go-to-market strategy which brings together your Marketing | Sales | Product | Customer Success priorities and processes. It's all about streamlining and accelerating your time to market value for faster return on investment (ROI).

• Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy
• SavvyX Methodology
• Your Checklist
• Overview of ready-made Recipes and Templates

Assessing your company's capabilities for growth is important because it helps identify organizational strengths and weaknesses and determine the optimal approach to achieving growth targets. 

This is an important part of strategic planning as it defines an organization's long-term direction and goals and contributes to developing a comprehensive GTM plan to achieve them.

In Recipe 0, you will see what's needed to assess your capabilities and identify where you have weaknesses and strengths, then review a checklist of what is needed to build your foundation for growth.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

The outcome of this Recipe is a written culture handbook that gives employees and stakeholders clear insights into who you are as a company (your DNA), where you are going, and how you work. It forms a foundation for many functional areas, such as talent recruitment, sales processes, and marketing strategies. 

In Recipe 1, you will see how to develop the foundational core of your company. These ingredients are vital elements for your business. Without a foundation, your company will struggle to move from Start-Up to Grown-Up (or possibly not survive early-stage business).

You will learn what goes into outlining who you are as a company, including purpose, vision, mission, core values, leadership style, and communications style.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

Having well-defined personas helps you build closer relationships with your audience, improve customer eXperience and engagement, and, ultimately, improve your bottom-line results. Just as in real-world relationships, there is no substantial conversation between strangers. Without knowing who your customers are—what they like, need, want, fear, believe, are motivated by, and how they process the world around them, among other things—it is nearly impossible to have an authentic, meaningful conversation (much less compel them to take action with your solution). 

In Recipe 2, you will learn how to gain insights about your target customers (personas), define their needs and wants, and map their buying journey and brand eXperience.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

Your business depends on future and current customer needs, wants, and perceptions in the context of your market which, in turn, shapes your offerings and marketing/positioning strategies. It is important to know what your customers are seeing as potential solutions in the marketplace, so you know how to differentiate your value, attract your ideal customers, and align your pricing strategy with the value perceived by your customers. 

In Recipe 3, you will see how to outline the problem your Start-Up solves and what your future and current customers are looking for as solutions. You will also learn how to gather information on your competition and define your differentiated value.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

People are, ultimately, the core of any business. Without people, you have no business—no customers to buy your offerings and no employees to deliver and serve your customers. In the end, your eXperience is your greatest differentiator and your only sustainable unique advantage in your market.

Understanding how your customers and employees eXperience your company allows you to ensure they have optimal eXperiences. This, in turn, can engender satisfaction and long-term loyalty. 

In Recipe 4, you will see how to develop a plan for how you win, serve, delight, and retain your customers and employees.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

The nature of profitable, successful business is to grow. All company stakeholders have the expectation your company will grow. To help them see how that will happen, it’s important to put together a growth plan that centers around your marketing infrastructure, strategy, and action plan. 

In Recipe 5, you will review how to develop core elements of your marketing strategy, including everything from how to build brand identity, identify your value proposition, define your messaging, write your brand guidelines, identify marketing tactics you will use, how to measure your success, allocate your budget, and more. The information contained in this Recipe alone can make or break your business.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

Sales is on the same continuum as marketing; marketing positions the sales conversations and answers preliminary common questions for future customers while sales personalizes those answers and the solution offerings to the customer’s use case and environment. 

In Recipe 6, you will learn how to develop core elements of your sales strategy, everything from sales process, sales methodology, how to measure progress on activities as well as performance in terms of actual results, sales incentive plans, forecast sales, and determine your sales budget.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

Obviously, one of the most significant elements of any business is the relationships developed with their customers. Through their purchases, you gain validation of your offerings as a real-world solution, financial cash flow, and a reason to keep going in business. As in any relationship, it’s important to appreciate your customers for their connection with and support of your company. 

In Recipe 7, you will develop a plan for how you plan to win, serve, delight, and retain your customers.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

A product strategy helps to align resources and goals within a company by ensuring everyone is working towards achieving common goal and objectives. Without a product strategy, a product may lack direction and focus, which can lead to wasted resources and missed opportunities.

In Recipe 8, you learn how to define your core product management processes as well as innovate and ideate new potential products. Your offerings comprise how you develop and package the solution value and how you deliver it to your customers. Since your product is central to your company’s success, you must know how to ensure continuous performance, distribution, progress measurement, and refinement while developing the product strategy in unity with sales and marketing. 

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

You have options when it comes to introducing your market to your company and options; only you can determine the optimal approach given your goals, resources, and capabilities. There are also elements you’ve developed throughout the SavvyX process that can help make that determination, such as core values, stakeholders, and even customer urgency. 

In Recipe 9, you will see how to identify and select the strategies you want and can implement for your company’s launch to the market. Your choice depends on your company's business objectives, resources, and capabilities.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

This step is where the proverbial rubber meets the road to get traction for your Start-Up. Only you (and your team / advisors) can make the best decision about how to move forward in the market because it will be completely unique to your company. You cannot accelerate using another company’s formula because it doesn’t account for your specific variables. And you can’t skip any of the previous elements shared in this book because you might miss a unique opportunity just waiting for your Start-Up to claim it. So bring it all together here. 

In Recipe 10, you will define your personalized blend of strategies into a unified go-to-market (GTM) strategy. This is the big introduction and solution launch to your market.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

Time management skills are essential because it is rare to have enough time to do everything asked of you or that you want to get done. You need to use your time productively and efficiently—but what if you already are and still can’t get everything done? 

Think about time management as a combination of working effectively and efficiently on key priorities that only you can do. Other activities should either be delegated, relegated to a later date, or disregarded as not important. Note that there is a difference between urgent and important; urgency tasks demand immediate attention, but that attention may or may not matter while important tasks not addressed may have serious consequences.

In Recipe 11, you will see how to establish a time management matrix, establish defined meetings structure for your leadership, all-hands, and Board meetings, ESG reporting, and how to leverage technology to support efficiency in performance.

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

By virtue of being a Start-Up, you are ready to adapt to marketplace changes. Right? Wrong.

The truth of it is that your market WILL change, and it COULD happen when you’re NOT looking because you’re focused on stabilizing and growing what you already have in the works.

Think of it like driving your car for long periods of time on the open road-as a driver, you can eXperience something called “tunnel vision” where you only see what is immediately in front of you. That can happen in business too.

This section brings you leading-edge growth strategies to provoke your fresh perspective:

• Original Thinking
• Innovation
• Ideation
• Alchemy
• Category Carving
• Get Out of the Red
• C & I Leadership

You also get stories and learning don'ts (aka, what we affectionately call "bloopers") as a way to see how things can play out in real-world scenarios.

Please see the Recipes & Templates section to review all the corresponding tools you can use with this Recipe to build your Start-Up's unified GTM strategy. Please note that the SavvyX Methodology Recipes and Templates are available separately from the book.

After working through the SavvyX Methodology to get all the elements of your unified go-to-market (GTM) strategy, it's time to see where you are in your journey for being a Savvy Start-Up.

This section invites you to consider each element that supports your GTM to benchmark your ability to accelerate your time to value.

Profit is a by-product of delivering value. SavvyX aims to help you get ready for next-level growth through facilitating increased efficiency, building better relationships, and delivering more compelling, value-driven brand eXperiences.

This section gives you greater context on who we are as company co-founders and why we do what we do.

• Why SavvyX?
• About the Authors
• Inspiration
• Summary