CEO Today Magazine April 2020 Edition

19 Q&A WITH NITIN KUMAR www.ceotodaymagazine.com .• We also clearly saw a need for more pointed solutions for on-premise, edge and cloud, and distinct solutions for workloads processed on each model made a lot of sense. This also picked up quicker sales velocity and closures for us, as opposed to selling a large catch-all solution. • We saw a huge opportunity in new target markets like Telecommunications, e-Commerce a nd the European region which we had historically underserved. We brought in some top-notch go-to-market executives with deep market understanding and connections who could add reach to the killer product teams that we had. In summary, we saw a huge opportunity for a repositioned product, value proposition, target markets and an unmet need. How did you earn the industry reputation for being a master of the pivot? How did you acquire these skills? My ability to add the ‘pivot’ skill was purely accidental. My experience of working within M&A allowed me to work alongside companies who were acquiring to change their own business models. Having taken over a dozen organisations through these business model integrations and transformations made me good at the pivot skills. Although I did not realise this for a while, my clients, personal and professional network made me aware of this aspect of my skill set. A professional network today amplifies your professional brand in the industry, which is why I quickly gained this reputation. I am thankful to people who have helped me harness this potential in me. In addition to this, a broad background of experiences always helps. I have played many roles in my career ranging from CEO, Chief Growth Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, M&A Integration/ Separation Leader, Business Unit Head and Management Consulting Partner. These roles offered a full P/L and a 360-degree view of a business and the industry, giving me depth within many functions such as strategy, operations, products, sales, marketing and M&A in a very hands-on manner. I am very fortunate for having experiences like these - it’s easier to think through the big picture, test a hypothesis in the market very quickly, adjust the go-to- market motion and structure operations to enable rapid execution. In short, the roles I played and the opportunities I got created the runway to change business models of companies on the Tech, Media and Telecom sectors. At some point, the market realised this ability in me and made me aware of it. So overall, I believe that the amalgamation of my experiences made me good at business pivots. What are the outcomes of a good pivot? How do you measure success? Measuring the success of a pivot can be very subjective - teams should even be commended for making “no go” decisions which save time, energy, capital and resources. However, quantified results can be measured across a few different dimensions like revenue trajectory, customer acquisition, time to achieving the desired scale, valuations, product adoption, etc. Not every pivot takes the same time. Some are short and quick whereas some take a bit more time to execute. For example, a brand pivot is a lot harder to measure and takes longer than a product or target market pivot. A good pivot should always achieve the optimal outcome; that is to complete the alignment between products, target markets, brand and routes to market and achieve the desired outcome the company was chasing. What are some of the lessons learned from your experience with many different companies? There are many different learnings and many battle scars, no two pivots have been the same. But here are some general lessons I have gathered over time: • An attempt to make a pivot around the product or fixing go-to-market is not a pivot; a pivot needs to be holistically conceptualised and executed. • People, particularly product-centric executives, tend to under weigh the brand pivot. Marketing is a very powerful and visible function during the change, so having a good CMO helps. • Don’t let the old kill the new trajectory - one must decide to let go of the old. Think about it as cutting your losses. • Make sure the company is capitalised for the pivot execution. A capital shock midwaywill force short cuts, ultimately derailing the pivot. • A lot of times, companies burn more capital trying to fund the legacy business and the new direction, resulting in excessive cash burn. • Do not create job descriptions around people, create job descriptions and pick the right people with the right skills to f ill those jobs. “Adequate consideration should be given to sustaining the pivot or future-proofing the company’s assets, IP and business model to create a structural advantage.”