Solving Growth Problems — A Case Study
Problem Statement:
You have an offer to join as the interim CPO of a beauty marketplace, called Natura. The company has raised more than $2 million so far, and has been struggling to grow in the last 6 months. It has a runway of another 6 months. They need your help in defining the product growth roadmap, and get back to track.
You are meeting Priya, the founder and CEO today to understand the journey so far. Deepak, the analyst, would also be joining her.
Priya (CEO): Glad to meet you. Let me tell you about Natura. Around 4 years back, I was really struggling to figure out beauty products for myself. I have sensitive skin and products containing certain chemicals don’t suit me. I could find websites listing beauty products from different brands, but couldn’t decide. My mom suggested a few natural products to try out, and I did. From there on, I started using only natural products for myself.
But it was still difficult for me to find a single place that listed natural products with reviews from other people. That’s why we created Natura.
Deepak (analyst): We built a basic website with a payment gateway and listed a few products with detailed description and reviews. We did Facebook marketing, and could sell these products easily. People were willing to pay even a premium to procure natural products.
To onboard natural beauty brands, we needed capital so we raised $100 k from family and friends and built the team.
Priya (CEO): Within a year of raising capital, we could grow to 10k monthly paying customers. So we went ahead and raised $2 million to grow aggressively. We grew our team, added more product lines, and started marketing. 6 months back, we were getting 100k orders from 40k monthly paying customers. But then the growth flatlined in the last six months. We have not been able to figure out the reasons.
Deepak (analyst): We had a commitment to get the follow-up round of funding last month. But the investors don’t have a strong faith due to lack of growth. If we figure out avenues to grow and show them the plan, there is a good chance they will put in the money.
This is where you come in. Help us assess and figure out growth in the next 1 month. You can request all the data that you need from me in future.
We will have to shut the company if you come to the conclusion that Growth isn’t possible.
Data Available:
Natura — CaseStudy — Google Drive
Solution:
Yeah we gave ourselves a super cool name :)
We did focused interviews on target customer base and used JBTD (Jobs To Be Done) Framework to come up with solutions
