Overheard At Jurassic (Q4 ‘22)
Last month, we hosted our Inaugural Quarterly Operating Advisor Town Hall with the founding members of our newly announced Operating Advisor (OA) Program. The engaging, thought-provoking discussion was full of invaluable insights on recession prep, defining TAM, verticalization, and navigating the new working environment. We did our best to summarize a few of the highlights that we overheard from our OAs; check them out below and join in the discussion!
Top 10 Takeaways from Jurassic’s Q4 ‘22 Operating Advisor Town Hall
On preparing for a possible recession…
1. Don’t be too bullish on forecasts and don’t trail the problem. The longer you wait on an issue, the harder it cuts.
2. Stick to projects with tangible ROI based on “boring arithmetic.” Reduce hypothesis-based projects.
3. From an HR perspective, employee engagement is number #1, so lean in to current employees and make sure they feel seen and heard.
4. Ask each leader in the business to come up with a 60-day plan to improve a core fundamental that is key for their team to stabilize. Whatever recessionary headwinds come your way, you focus on stabilizing that key metric for 60 days.
5. Focus on retaining existing customers. It’s so much more expensive to lose an existing customer and standing by customers in turbulent times pays dividends in perpetuity.
On defining Total Addressable Market (TAM)…
6. Call your customers and partners to validate and define your market further. Most companies opt for third-party research and standard industry reports, but never actually pick up the phone to hear from the purest data source.
7. Focus on the Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) and what’s in front of you instead of TAM. See this TechCrunch Article.
On executing a vertical-focused sales approach…
8. Vertical-focused marketing. A solid industry-specific case study is powerful. Branded marketing materials and website tabs to say “(solution) FOR (industry).” It's the same every time, but very specific to that industry (ex. logos, case studies). For whatever reason, it gives people the “warm and fuzzies.”
9. Bring in someone onto your team from the space.
On navigating the new working environment…
10. From a new hire perspective, how are you connecting your employees? People need connection. A new hire feeling connected to your brand is not only meaningful, but also vital.
11. (bonus) In recent M&A experience, no buyer has been concerned with whether there’s a physical office or not.
