Start at the End: How Companies Can Grow Bigger and Faster by Reversing Their Business Plan

Chapter 2

Confirming the Opportunity

To recap: You’ve reached the point at which you know exactly where you want to go. Now we need to create the plan to get you there. Before we do this, however, we must ensure you’re pursuing the right opportunities. For example, an organic sunscreen company that needs to reach $20 million in annual revenues won’t get to that point by doing the same things it’s doing today. Instead, it needs to identify the best growth opportunities and then execute on them.

The sunscreen company can grow by increasing penetration in natural food and product stores. It could try to penetrate the mass consumer market by seeking distribution in supermarkets and mass retailers such as Walmart or Target. It could try international expansion. It could create new products geared toward specific segments (young/old, premium/low-end, etc.). Or it could try several of these initiatives.

The number of potential opportunities the sunscreen company (and your company) could pursue is nearly limitless. You must pursue at least one opportunity if you want to grow and reach your end goal. Choosing the wrong opportunity could prove fatal for both small and big companies. General Motors required a government bailout after pursuing a flawed product strategy—focusing on producing bigger and faster automobiles. Conversely, other companies such as Toyota and Honda have succeeded by pursuing a different product development strategy—producing automobiles with better gas mileage.

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