Слайд 1The Journey Ahead
Rand | November 2013
Слайд 2Topics:
Where We’re At (performed in the style of Star Trek)
Re-visiting Moz’s
Vision-Based Framework
Strategic Initiatives for 2014
Our Roadmap & the Launch of Adventure Teams
Слайд 3Where We’re At
(performed in the style of Star Trek)
Слайд 5November 2011
Our mission: to seek out a new software product and
new ways to help SEO-focused marketers succeed!
Слайд 6November 2011
We shall help not only with search, but social media,
content marketing, link data, and brand mentions… And that’s only the start!
Слайд 7November 2011
Ach! Captain, that’s no wee investment you’re committing to.
Слайд 8November 2011
It could take us 7-8 months to develop this new
starship… err. software.
Слайд 9November 2011
I concur with Mr. Scott. We shall need to enhance
our resources.
Слайд 10March 2012
I’m on it, Star dudes!
Слайд 11July 2012
The Federation has drastically underestimated the complexity of this project.
Yighosdo'
Слайд 12July 2012
Do’na worry. We just need a wee bit more time…
By November, she’ll be ready to fly!
Слайд 13November 2012
Bones, we need to get this thing launched or we’re
in trouble.
Слайд 14November 2012
Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor, not a miracle worker. We
can hit March.
Слайд 15March 2013
It would appear your schedule was optimistic Doctor. We will
need a new strategy.
Слайд 16March 2013
Our dilithium crystal supplies are running low…
Слайд 17March 2013
Your human emotions are clouding your judgment. Leave the fuel
issues to me.
Слайд 18May 2013
Our rebrand must launch. We’ll create an invite list, and
as soon as Moz Analytics is ready, send it to the people.
Слайд 19May 2013
Captain, I’m picking up some skepticism in the delta quadrant.
Слайд 20May 2013
I’m sorry, but this is the only way.
Слайд 21May 2013
It’s not my favorite plan, but I trust you guys.
Слайд 22May 2013
Captain, ve can be ready for launch in September.
Слайд 23July 2013
The invite list is filling up fast.
Слайд 24May 2013
We might just make our budget after all!
Слайд 25Our Budget for the Invite List
Invite List Emails: 90,545
Signups: 4,500
~5%
Слайд 26The Invite List’s Actual Performance
Invite List Emails: 90,545
Emails Delivered: 88,110
Click-Throughs: 26,832
Free
Trial Signups: 5,058
Conversions to Paid: 2,094
97.31%
30.45%
18.85%
41.4%
Слайд 27November 2013
Invite Liiiiiiiiiist!!!!
Слайд 29November 2013
I’ve been dead before…
Слайд 30The Reality
Thanks to our line of credit, we still have a
long runway.
Retention hasn’t gotten much worse; it just hasn’t gotten better.
By being cautious and conservative, we can be profitable again in June 2014.
The worst part – the waiting & wondering - is behind us. Now we just need to make our subscription better and delight our customers.
Слайд 31Re-Visiting Moz’s
Vision-Based Framework
Слайд 32Why Does a Company Exist?
“Many people assume, wrongly, that a company
exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company’s existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being. As we investigate this, we inevitably come to the conclusion that a group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so they are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not accomplish separately—they make a contribution to society."
- David Packard
Слайд 33Vision-Based Framework
http://moz.com/rand/vision-based-framework/
Слайд 34Defining Core Purpose
Purpose (which should last at least 100 years) should
not be confused with specific goals or business strategies (which should change many times in 100 years). Whereas you might achieve a goal or complete a strategy, you cannot fulfill a purpose; it is like a guiding star on the horizon -- forever pursued but never reached. Yet although purpose itself does not change, it does inspire change. The very fact that purpose can never be fully realized means that an organization can never stop stimulating change and progress.
- Jim Collins
Слайд 35Our Core Purpose (aka “Mission”)
Moz's mission is to help people do better
marketing.
Слайд 36Defining Core Values
Core values are the essential and enduring tenets of
an organization. A small set of timeless guiding principles, core values require no external justification; they have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organization… Ralph S. Larsen, CEO of Johnson & Johnson, puts it this way: "The core values embodied in our credo might be a competitive advantage, but that is not why we have them. We have them because they define for us what we stand for, and we would hold them even if they became a competitive disadvantage in certain situations.“
- Jim Collins
Слайд 37Our Core Values
Transparent
Authentic
Generous
Fun
Empathetic
Exceptional
Слайд 38Defining Strategic Vision
Strategy takes what you want to achieve and develops
a plan to get there. From strategy you can develop tactics and implement them. For me, strategy is as much about what you are not going to do as what you are going to do.
Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve your goals are limited.
- Fred Wilson
Слайд 39We Believe (and have evidence) that Marketing Spend & Effort Will
Shift from the Red to the Blue
Слайд 40Our Strategic Vision
Power the shift from interruption to inbound marketing by
giving every marketer affordable software to measure and improve their efforts.
Слайд 41Moz Analytics and Moz Local are designed to help marketers here
Слайд 42In the future, we might help marketers in these areas, too.
Слайд 43Defining a BHAG
To build a visionary company, you need to counterbalance
its fixed core ideology with a relentless drive for progress.
One way to bring that drive for progress to life is through BHAGs (short for Big Hairy Audacious Goals). With his very first dime store in 1945, Sam Walton set the BHAG to “make my little Newport store the best, most profitable in Arkansas within five years.” As the company grew, Walton set BHAG after BHAG, including the still-in-place goal to become a $125-billion company by the year 2000. The point is not to find the “right” BHAGs but to create BHAGs so clear, compelling, and imaginative that they fuel progress.
- Jim Collins
Слайд 44NASA’s 1960s BHAG
To put a man on the surface of the
Moon, and return him safely to the Earth.
Слайд 45Our BHAG
A quarter million people paying to use Moz’s products by
May 29th, 2018
Слайд 47Earlier This Year, I Talked About Five
Increase customer retention in every
cohort
Return to profitability
Reach a broader marketing audience with our products, content, and brand
Remove reliance on Google data
Improve Moz’s company culture
Слайд 48For 2014, We Only Have Three:
#1: Improve Retention in Every Cohort
#2:
Return to Profitability
#3: Launch Moz Local & Learn
Слайд 49Why Remove Culture?
Because being TAGFEE is not a temporary, strategic initiative.
It’s not a goal we will accomplish, celebrate, and be done with. It won’t shift in 12-18 months.
Culture is permanently important – it must infuse all of our efforts forever.
Having culture as a strategic initiative confuses the definition and purpose of both culture and strategic initiatives.
Слайд 50Why Remove Broader Audience?
We need to focus on delighting our current
audience before we expand into more new markets.
SEO alone continues to grow fast, and both content & social marketers are including SEO into their workflow (just as SEOs are including content/social in theirs). If we can build a great product for this base, we have a great opportunity (and a lot of learnings we can apply) to reach less SEO-focused folks in the future.
Moz Local is a big bet on its own and a great way to reach a broader audience in 2014.
Слайд 51Why Remove Dependence on Google?
Google Analytics has been good to us,
and doesn’t appear to be a short term risk (as it did earlier this year).
With the disappearance of keyword traffic data, rankings are more critical than ever to understanding how campaigns/pages perform. Hence, we can’t empathetically serve our customers in the next few years without rankings data (and Google appears not to be actively working against us or others who get that data).
Слайд 52Why Make Retention Such a Focus?
Retention is extremely well correlated with
customer happiness. If we’re to be empathetic to our customers, retention is the best way to measure success.
In any future liquidity event, retention will be a huge part of how we’re valued. Every dollar we make is worth more if we improve retention.
Retention is something everyone at the company can directly and indirectly impact, and something we can all see and measure together.
Retention means higher CLTV, which means better margins, and an easier time staying profitable as we grow.
Слайд 53Why Do We Need to Be Profitable?
Profitability lets us control our
own destiny vs. being beholden to raising future rounds of investment, and potentially losing our ability to prioritize the culture we want.
Profitability means we can make investments in long-term bets (like we did with Wonk, Local, Moz Analytics, etc).
Being profitable reduces risk that we’d need to take more drastic cost-cutting measures in the future.
Profitability removes the emotional challenges that a limited runway create.
Слайд 54Everything we work on must be:
1) Mapped to either retention, profitability,
or Moz Local
2) Measurable with numbers that are made transparent to everyone at the company
3) Prioritized against other things that can move the needle on these initiatives
Слайд 55Our Roadmap & The Launch of Adventure Teams
Слайд 56Here’s How We Crafted the Current Roadmap
List of active and backlogged
projects from teams
Eteam planning meeting facilitated by Tim & Karen
Retention, cancellation, and usage data from Alyson
Слайд 57Here’s How We Crafted the Current Roadmap
Usability, Stability, Accuracy
Every priority had
to fit 1+ of the following:
Discoverability
Highly Requested by Users
Big Innovation / Game Changer
Creates Advantage Over Competition
Reduces Costs
Слайд 58Tim & Karen then circulated to each team to get feedback
+ input, which led to this:
Adam will share more about this in his presentation
Слайд 59How Will We Do This in The Future?
Some folks like the
top down approach
But we believe great solutions should come from more diverse groups, and that, long-term, planning should be more inclusive.
The future process is still TBD, but the hope is to make the Eteam + Board responsible for defining problems, and Adventure Teams responsible for solutions.