Mike, and more broadly the MarketWise Network of Experts™, can cover a variety of speaking and workshop topics, based on decades of real-world experience and lessons learned. Each event is tailored to the specific objectives and interests of the audience. A few of the popular topics are below.

Before jumping into strategic planning and execution, MarketWise believes thoughtful market research and analysis should always come first; and then it should continue throughout the strategic planning process. Whether validating assumptions, discovering unmet needs, testing new product concepts, or exploring a variety of other curiosities, market research will always provide valuable insights that can often better inform strategy and execution, providing growth initiatives with a much better chance of long-term success.

Market research comes in a variety of forms, including primary and secondary; and qualitative and quantitative. Primary research comes from the direct efforts of your organization and/or a firm like MarketWise, working on your behalf. Primary research is typically used to test and receive feedback on the specifics of your organization's efforts from a commercial perspective. Secondary research typically includes broad analysis done by others; for example, market studies that provide anticipated industry growth, market share of those competing in that industry and similar areas of study.

Within the category of primary research, there are studies that are qualitative and those that are quantitative. Qualitative research provides general direction, but the data collected is anecdotal and not statistically significant. For example, you wouldn't say, "85% of participants liked the proposed price" after conducting qualitative research, since with qualitative research, you typically don't talk to enough research participants (i.e., n is relatively small) to make that sort of specific claim. Instead, you would say, "the pricing proposed received favorable feedback from most of those who we spoke with." Forms of this type of research include 1:1 conversations with prospective customers, focus groups, advisory councils, etc. 

Quantitative research is designed to gather very specific feedback, from a much broader base of research participants (i.e., n is relatively large). This type of research is often done with surveys and the goal is to receive responses from enough respondents to statistically represent the population as a whole. This typically means no less than 100 and no more than 10% of the population size, or 1,000, whichever is lower. 

With a robust data set comes the ability to quantify the results and then analyze them statistically. In the example above, you would come to conclusions like "85% of participants were either 'very likely' or 'likely' to purchase the product at that price." Further, quantitative research allows you to draw conclusions about which elements of the survey are strongly correlated, how certain segments of the participants (e.g., based on geographic location) may have answered differently and whether those differences are statistically significant. For example, you might analyze the data and determine that of those who were very likely to purchase at the proposed price, 80% ranked "customer support" as the number one reason to buy, which would be an indication of what the messaging for this product should include. You might also find that of those who live in the northeast, 90% ranked customer support as the number one reason to buy. With this, you may assume customer support is more important in the northeast, but you would want to test that hypothesis to be sure, which you can do with statistical tools such as a t-test. This analysis would allow you to compare the mean for the northeast to other regions and/or the mean of the whole data set.

There are countless insights that can come from market research and this presentation serves to introduce all the possibilities.

To aid in your consideration as to whether this topic makes sense for your organization, feel free to download and share our white paper: Start with Research - How to Jumpstart Commercial Success, located on the Portfolio page. 

Revenue growth can be a challenge for many companies, so anything and everything that can be put into place to increase the chances of success should be considered throughout the commercialization process. Of utmost importance is strategic planning, because let’s face it, without a plan, busyness will occur, but nothing strategic will get done.

Effective strategy starts with the stated mission (purpose) and vision of the company; what the company does, where it’s trying to go and what it will look like once it succeeds. In some cases, there is good clarity around mission and vision and in fact they haven’t changed in years. In many cases however, there is a general opinion of what drives the company, but everybody’s definition is a little different.

If not well-defined, or if the mission and vision need to evolve due to macro trends, change of ownership, competitive pressures, etc., it’s a good idea to brainstorm and vet, with leadership, ownership and other stakeholders, to the point of having agreement before moving forward with strategic planning.

Once the mission and vision have been determined, there are tried-and-true steps that can guide the strategic planning process, all with the intent of bringing the mission and vision to life. While there are significant inputs and outputs to each step of the process, the steps themselves generally include: 1) developing strategic objectives; 2) building strategic imperatives; 3) creating project/product/marketing plans; 4) assembling an operating plan; and 5) communicating the plan to all who will be expected to execute it.  

Development of the strategic plan is a cross-functional effort, because the initiatives themselves will normally include product development, finance, operations, sales, marketing and customer support; and in some cases, a team focused on strategic partnerships and/or acquisitions.

The goal of strategic planning is to put structure around a set of activity that can be reviewed monthly to ensure traction is occurring. Once the strategic plan is constructed, the organization moves into execution of that plan. This presentation serves to introduce the importance of strategic planning and the steps necessary to build a plan that can be executed in a way that ensures success.

As you consider whether this topic makes sense for your organization, feel free to download and share our white paper: The Basics of Strategy - Planning to Succeed, located on the Portfolio page. 

Once the strategic plan is built and communicated to the organization as a whole, there are two choices: 1) put it on the shelf and revisit it again in a year; or 2) manage the plan, to ensure flawless execution. It goes without saying that the first option isn't really an option, but the reality is that this is the approach some companies take. This usually happens when the strategic planning process was forced upon the team, so much so that while it was ultimately completed, it was viewed as an academic exercise only, so the team reverts to business as usual as soon as the planning process is completed. 

When this occurs, busyness will ensue, but it becomes unlikely that big changes will occur, since nobody is focused on anything but the tactics of the business. Instead of falling prey to that outcome, especially considering the many examples of companies that failed to plan and then failed altogether, it's imperative that the execution of the plan be treated as critically important, as should the development of the plan. 

Consider football, which as it turns out, has many parallels to business; there's a mission (provide entertainment), there's a vision (delight fans by winning), there are strategic objectives (win the Super Bowl), there are strategic imperatives (win the division), there are project/product/marketing plans (build the team and plan the games), there's an operating plan (how the money will be made) and there's communication (to ownership, team members, the press and fans). Like in business, without planning and great execution, the environment is chaotic and the results are often disappointing. 

On the other hand, when the plan is well-thought-out and understood; and the teams are excited about the roles they're playing, engagement, energy and performance can be better than they've ever been. This is the point at which companies succeed wildly, creating new markets, beating their competitors and achieving or surpassing the objectives they set out to accomplish.

Critical to success is rigorous management, which comes in the form of regular reviews, discussion, identification of challenges, elimination of roadblocks and holding people accountable for meeting their obligations. Culture plays a big role in good execution as well, since to succeed fully, the environment needs to be positive, the right people need to be in the right positions, everyone needs to feel heard and appreciated, leadership needs to be authentic and those who don't perform need to be moved out. 

This presentation is about setting the organization and individual team members up for success, so that in the end, everyone wins.

If you're interested in this topic and believe it could help your organization, feel free to download and share our white paper: Executing to Win - Setting the Team Up for Success, located on the Portfolio page.  

While as a service businesses have been popular for years, many traditional, “brick and mortar” businesses have largely excluded themselves from this go-to-market model.

Mike would say that these businesses haven’t missed adopting the as a service model because of a lack of interest. Instead, they haven’t moved forward with an as a service model because it’s deemed to be too difficult to figure out, too capital-intensive, or too much change for their organization. All these concerns are valid, but they can be mitigated with careful planning and great execution. 

Since the 1990s, in various commercial roles, Mike has been building as a service businesses from traditional businesses that have had no such offering historically. Examples of the initiatives he's brought to market, among others, are Intel® InBusiness™ Remote Services Center, Priority Control as a Service™, Provation® Order Sets and Irrigation Management as a Service™, representing a diverse mix of hardware, software and services, in business to business and business to government environments.

Over the years, Mike has introduced and sold as a service offerings to companies, not for profit organizations and government entitles throughout the United States and this presentation is focused on those experiences. Covered topics are why an as a service model makes sense for many businesses, how to build it to drive a recurring revenue base and how to avoid the pitfalls that will undoubtedly come up before and after you launch.

If you're interested in how to build an as a service business, feel free to download and share our white paper: Built from Bricks - How to Build an as a Service Business, located on the Portfolio page.  

According to Statistica, the value of global merger and acquisition (M&A) deals amounted to $3.4 trillion in U.S. dollars in 2022, representing nearly 50,000 transactions, and that was a down year. What’s driving all that activity, and is it a productive way to grow a business? Why are there so many that seem to either fail or struggle to bring the value that drove the transaction in the first place? What goes wrong? We give you our view of the answers to those questions in this paper.

American business today is based largely on quarterly earnings and a very short time horizon. A year is a long time, two years is an eternity, and anything beyond that is the far distant future and not really considered by many. It’s possible for acquisitions to enable a fast and “easy” way to grow; therefore, they’re popular. And of course, an exit for the investors in the acquired company is sometimes highly desirable. However, while growing a business by way of acquisition(s) may seem like the most expeditious path forward, it can be fraught with danger, in too many cases leading to selling what was acquired just a few years later, often at a discounted price and only after the culture of the acquired company has been significantly compromised. 

Good acquisition strategy should be a part of a broader, longer term growth strategy, meaning after completing a thorough strategic planning process (see The Basics of Strategy – Planning to Succeed), it’s been determined that acquisition will lead to a better strategic outcome than moving forward through organic means only. Some of the key reasons companies come to this conclusion include: 

• Faster top line revenue growth
• Access to intellectual property
• An established (attractive, strategic) business
• A competitive advantage
• Access to a new customer base
• Growth potential (with investment, structure, etc.)
• Product/service/business model synergies

If you're interested in how to design and execute a successful inorganic strategy, feel free to download and share our white paper: Buy Versus Build - A Practical Guide to Inorganic Strategy, located on the Portfolio page.

We’ve all heard the statistics: most employees leave their manager, not their company. Before that, we see “quiet quitting,” meaning they’re still there, but not engaged and only doing what’s necessary to avoid being fired. The truth is that people don’t want to work for a manager; they want to work for a leader. There’s a big difference and business results come from leadership. 

Managers manage tasks and resources. Leaders establish a vision and then get people excited about it. Engagement comes from excitement and that’s what enables employees’ superpowers. But what do employees get excited about? They get excited when the mission matters; when the objectives and strategy are clear; when their role is meaningful and key to the organization’s success; when they feel supported and set up to win; and when those involved are truly working as a team. 

Throughout Mike's career, he's witnessed good leadership, poor leadership and no leadership at all. This presentation focuses on what good leadership should aspire to be, including:

• Mission driven 
• Visionary
• Engaged
• Credible 
• Self-aware
• Authentic
• Humble
• Transparent
• Empowering
• Action oriented
• Accountable
• Consistent
• Empathetic

As you consider whether this topic makes sense for your organization, feel free to download and share our white paper: Leadership First - A Practical Guide to Employee Engagement, located on the Portfolio page.