Volaris Strategy Team: Empowering Growth Through Supported Autonomy
One of the biggest reasons software entrepreneurs decide to join Volaris is to access a support system while retaining autonomy to drive organizational success. When a company is acquired by Volaris, it often represents a pivotal moment in its growth trajectory.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Volaris CEO, Mark Miller, emphasized why we believe leaving acquired companies fully autonomous produces better results, “While our business leaders run their companies independently, we want them to benefit from being part of our ecosystem. We have a very intimate network where people across our hundreds of businesses can easily connect with one another.”
That's why Volaris has created a dynamic and comprehensive support system designed to fuel organic growth while preserving the independence of our acquired companies in a decentralized environment.
Within Volaris Group’s DeSilvester Portfolio, one component of this support system is our dedicated Strategy Team – a team of experts who are passionate about helping you achieve your growth goals. They bring a wealth of experience, industry insights, and innovative thinking to the table, ensuring our portfolio of companies has the support to make informed decisions and propel forward.
In this article, we delve into the power of supported autonomy; elaborating on the ways our Strategy Team collaborates with our acquired companies, the outcomes they support, and the invaluable resources they bring to the table.
Collaborative Synergy - The Role of the Strategy Team:
While autonomy remains a forefront priority, the Strategy Team plays a crucial role in supporting growth. This team provides industry expertise, analysis, and advice while collaborating closely with the leaders in our businesses. Their primary objective is to act as partners and support organic growth; offering guidance, Volaris best practices, and strategic insights to help our businesses navigate challenges and seize organic growth opportunities. Senior Strategy Consultant, Tanya Gupta, emphasizes the collaborative nature of the partnership.
"The Strategy Team acts as a resource, drawing on our expertise to help our acquired companies make informed decisions. Our approach is all about collaboration. We work hand-in-hand with our business leaders to identify strategic frameworks and develop actionable plans."
-- Tanya Gupta, Senior Strategy Consultant, Volaris Group
Our acquired companies lean on the Strategy Team for support with strategic initiatives, coupling Volaris best practices and external research, with data analysis to develop unique techniques. Strategy Director, Julia Tomczak, highlights this approach as being geared towards providing our businesses, both longstanding and recently acquired, with fresh strategies at the forefront of industry innovation.
“At its core, our Strategy Team supports our businesses through two primary channels: By disseminating the application of Volaris best practices across our portfolio (internal knowledge) and by monitoring external trends & research to bring new ideas and frameworks to the table (external knowledge). We are constantly evolving our processes and structures to enhance our businesses with novel insights, fostering an environment of perpetual growth and innovation.”
-- Julia Tomczak, Strategy Director, Volaris Group
Tanya encapsulates our ethos as a continuous and collaborative partnership, stating, “We’re here to bring a fresh perspective and are very data-driven, offering rationale behind every recommendation that we make. I like to think of our team as internal and external consultants – since we don’t work in the businesses day-to-day, we are able to look at challenges with a fresh set of eyes, without any biases. We stay engaged during the strategy implementation and refine recommendations based on the business’s feedback, which also gives us the opportunity to complete follow-up projects.”
Catalyzing Success with Strategy Team Projects:
The versatility of our Strategy Team shines through a spectrum of impactful projects, from refining overarching strategies to delving into the intricate details of operational efficiency. Let's explore the diverse array of projects our strategy experts spearhead, each contributing to the tapestry of success driven by our acquired companies:
Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning: Creating a Path to Consistent Double-Digit Growth, YOY
A collaborative workshop aimed to cultivate strategic alignment across senior leadership, crystallizing the organization's core values, purpose, goals, and action plans for the next 3 years. The outcome is a 1-page plan outlining the steps to achieve the business’s organic growth targets:
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- A visionary 10-year BHAG: Crafted to inspire and guide the long-term vision and aspirations of the business including clearly defined opportunities for business expansion.
- Precise 3-year action plans for each department: Detailed action plans tailored to each department, ensuring a cohesive approach for organizational success.
- Annual growth targets: The growth targets help to identify departmental areas of improvement, leveraging proprietary ratios that allow you to benchmark your company against 1,000+ software companies under the umbrella of our parent company, CSI.
Additionally, we guide businesses in evaluating new horizons, be it entering uncharted markets, unveiling innovative products or expanding their customer base. These sessions foster actionable growth strategies, providing robust support to scale vision, and ensure renewed alignment across departments.
“Our collaboration with Volaris' Strategy Team, particularly during our 1-page strategy session, was a game-changer. The facilitators' approach struck the perfect balance, keeping us focused on end goals while patiently guiding us through problem-solving. This strategy session exceeded my expectations, showcasing our combined strategic prowess. We look forward to future collaborations.”
-- Frank Syma, General Manager, FacilityForce
Sales & Marketing
Sales & Marketing: Identifying & Capturing High Growth Opportunities
Collaborating with your Sales & Marketing teams, our strategy experts support projects related to demand & lead generation, pipeline optimization, and go-to-market strategies. They offer support in navigating the intricacies of respective markets, products, and industries. These collaborative endeavours yield a spectrum of outcomes:
- Holistic Growth Strategies with Targeted Execution: Crafted to suit distinctive markets, products, and industries, our finely tuned strategies enhance every step of the sales process, from funnel building to execution.
- Market Expansion: Through comprehensive market assessments and targeted marketing campaigns, our strategy experts help uncover new organizational opportunities.
- Pricing Precision: With competitor research and customer profitability analysis, the Strategy Team assists with sustaining profitability and setting data-supported pricing strategies for your products.
This collaborative approach aims not just for growth but for strategic and sustainable advancement in your competitive landscape.
“The assistance we’ve had from Tanya and the Strategy Team has been hugely beneficial. They gave us tools we can use year-on-year to calculate the impact of pricing strategies and sales on our organic growth. And we've been able to leverage the market data that was shared to grow our pipeline.”
-- Ruth Mills, Managing Director, IndiCater
Customer Success
Customer Success: Turning your Customer Base into your Fan Base
In the domain of Customer Success, our Strategy Team works with your leadership with the imperative goal of enhancing customer retention and elevating "back-to-base sales". By increasing value for customers, this holistic perspective across client-facing departments is instrumental in reducing attrition and fostering sustainable growth. These collaborative projects yield a spectrum of outcomes:
- Strategic Customer Engagement: Crafted retention strategies and back-to-base sales opportunities through comprehensive customer and market intelligence.
- Insight-Driven Execution Plans: Execute strategic plans to maximize customer value by leveraging data-driven insights on customer needs, preferences, and market trends.
- Optimized Customer Support: Systematic optimizations and automation for streamlining customer support processes to ensure optimal customer experience.
This synergistic approach is not solely geared towards immediate satisfaction but is a concerted effort to cultivate enduring relationships, curtail churn, and consistently deliver lasting value to customers.
“I want to give a special shout-out to Tanya, who not only provides data insights but also challenges and reframes my thinking in a way that is always positive and supportive. I’m no sportsman, but I think it’s accurate to say that at various times, Tanya has been the coach, cheerleader, and most valuable player on our team. Thank you, Team Strat!”
-- Adam Pepper, Head of Products, Artifax
Go-To-Market
Go-To-Market: Mastering Market Share Expansion
Encompassing both foundational and strategic aspects across the customer journey lifecycle, these projects aim to elevate market position. Spearheaded by Chief Growth Officer, Keith O’Brien, he works with our acquired companies to capture more market share and enhance overall Sales & Marketing effectiveness while establishing a foundation for sustainable long-term growth. The joint initiatives produce a diverse range of results:
- Account Capture Planning: Analyze and develop crucial strategies, such as ideal customer profiles, target market analysis & validation, value wedge tactics, persona cards & value alignment, as well as tailored outreach strategies and content mapping aligned with deal progression and the customer journey.
- Holistic Go-to-Market Strategies: Comprehensive strategies that encompass both foundational and strategic elements across the entire customer journey, guaranteeing a thorough approach to expanding market share.
- Advanced Growth Initiatives: Advanced strategies to solidify market presence and enhance overall sales and marketing effectiveness, these projects span a spectrum — from deal progression strategies and negotiation tactics to targeted sales playbooks and optimizations in CRM and Marketing automation.
In collaboration with our Chief Growth Officer and the remarkable talent in our business units, these projects aim for immediate growth and lay the foundation for sustainable long-term success.
“Having newly joined forces with Volaris last year, Keith has significantly helped to shape our journey towards market share expansion. This partnership has helped to lay the foundation for our growth objectives this year, setting a clear trajectory for success. We appreciate the support and strategic insight that Volaris has brought to DisplayNote while allowing us the autonomy to carve our strategic path forward.”
-- Paul Brown, CEO, DisplayNote
Strategy in Action: Voices of the Executive Suite
Stacey Wright, Chief Commercial Officer, Kinetic
"The Volaris Strategy Team has been an instrumental partner to Kinetic, supporting our strategic direction and ambitious growth plans. Their support has included developing a 1-page strategic plan; undertaking pricing and competitor analysis projects that were vital in informing commercial pricing decisions for new and existing products; and everything in between.
Their crucial support in developing and executing our strategic vision has been invaluable and has most certainly been a key enabler to Kinetic's success, which has seen us far exceed our initial double-digit growth targets this past year."
David Bullivant, Director of Sales, Sunrise Software
"Partnering with our Strategy Team has been invaluable for Sunrise since acquisition. Their support in defining our TAM and implementing specific targeted lead generation strategies has made a significant impact to Sunrise.
Their data-driven approach and industry insights have helped optimize our current market presence while paving the way for new growth opportunities. Volaris has truly been a catalyst for our strategic expansion, and their collaboration with our team has set us on a trajectory for sustained success."
Kevin Raasch, VP of Marketing, FacilityForce
"We partnered with our Strategy Team on a project to gather targeted contact data. The strategic insights that were brought to the table in tandem with our company's internal expertise not only generated new leads but also supported us in conversion to SQLs.
We are grateful for this partnership and the tangible impact it has had on FacilityForce and look forward to collaborating on future projects."
Susie Hopper, President, Tribute
"While Tribute operates autonomously, we have been able to leverage the expertise and support offered by our portfolio Strategy Team. Working with Tribute’s management team, we collectively defined a new strategic vision and 3-year action plan with supportive goals and KPIs.
The Strategy Team additionally helped us to complete market sizing, providing our team with prospects lists for our core market and completing a TAM analysis for our secondary market including contact information and strategies for lead generation. We are continuously grateful for the ongoing support of our Strategy Team!"
Andy Wheeler, Managing Director, Artifax
"Shortly after the acquisition, we had a strategic planning session; bringing together our senior management team provided a multitude of benefits. Collectively establishing our vision for advancing Artifax’s growth strategies brought forth operational efficiency and our alignment enabled us to cohesively cascade our strategic plan through the business.
Since then, our Strategy has supported us on a range of projects from TAM analysis and initiatives to research and general support. Their expertise coupled with Artifax's remarkable talent, has been instrumental in translating our vision into actionable plans."
A Decentralized Vision for Long-Term Success
In the dynamic arena of business growth, Volaris champions an ethos rooted in autonomy and decentralization, firmly believing that companies flourish when empowered to shape their own destinies.
We are dedicated to cultivating an environment where businesses thrive and reach their full potential. Our strategy experts serve as a testament to one of the many avenues of support within this global network, setting the stage for long-term success.
While DeSilvester Portfolio’s Strategy Team stands ready to provide guidance, it's crucial to recognize that the driving force behind organic growth lies within the talent and resilience of each acquired company. Their unique strengths and capabilities propel the trajectory of success in this decentralized vision.
