Venture Things E04: The Growth Hypothesis

“We are going to reach X EUR of revenues within the next 12 month.” This is a statement I have to validate very often when diving deeper into startup cases. For me, the Growth Hypothesis represents the likelihood of reaching the business plan goals — simply spoken current status vs. forecasted top-line growth. See below my most important questions regarding this matter!

Team

• Do you have a the sales machine within the founder’s team?
• Have you already hired a sales representative? If yes, how many?
• How much of your processes are already automated?

Marketing

• What are your efforts to create inbound leads?
• Through which channels do you reach your target audience?
• Did you build a brand already?

Demand

• What is your current pipeline?
• How many customers are necessary to reach X EUR of revenues in 12 months?
• Which current references/milestones boost your speed when talking to new customers?

Sales

• What is your sales team structure currently?
• Which assumption is behind the forecasted conversion rates?
• Are you dependent on partner sales or do you reach the targets by yourself?

By answering the questions the Growth Hypothesis should really be sharpened. From my view, this statement would be the result when getting it right: “We are going to leverage our kick-ass team, smart marketing, the huge demand and of course our sales squad to reach X EUR of revenues within the next 12 months.”