Everything keeps coming back to you.
You’re out making deals happen with investors, customers and partners. You hired people to solve problems and move things forward, but they keep pulling you back into the day-to-day.
Strategic planning for growing B2B tech companies
Stop jumping in and give your people a plan they can actually execute.
You’ve tried everything to get your people to take ownership, and something’s still missing. I help you get clear on your strategy and turn it into a plan they understand and own.
- People stop running to you for answers.
- Everyone sees the bigger picture.
- Progress feels more linear.
How do you get your people to take accountability?
Nothing’s getting done.
You keep telling people what they need to do. Every time you look up, your people are working in silos, building things you don’t need instead of delivering what’s needed.
You feel like you’re failing.
Your people are smart, but they aren’t delivering. And you can’t keep jumping in to save them. When they let you down, you feel guilty. You don’t want to be the reason the business falls apart.
Why this happens
People can’t take accountability when strategy is a moving target.
Every time you talk to customers and investors, you learn something new, so the strategy changes every week. You try to explain it to your team in a meeting, but they’re not getting it.
How I help
I take what the best practitioners do and combine it into a system. You and your key people work out the strategy and plan together, so everyone understands where the business is going. You don’t have to hire five people or figure it out by trial and error, like I did.
What you get
A written plan that helps your team understand what your customers value, what’s happening around your business, and how you plan to win. So they can finally say, “Now I get it. Here’s where I fit in.”
It shows what you know, what you only think you know, and what you still have to figure out. Your team knows what’s going on and feels safe making their own decisions.
Hi, I’m Roy Naquin
For more than 15 years, I’ve worked in program management, business development, and strategic planning for B2B tech companies on the bleeding edge, from startups to big companies. I understand how businesses work at every stage.
Most of the time, I get brought in to figure out why things aren’t moving, after they’ve already turned into a mess. I’ve learned the hard way how to find out what people really understand. Once we see how each person sees it, we can work through the pieces that don’t line up.
I’m most valuable when the business is growing faster than your team can keep up, while your people are still motivated and before you’ve burned yourself out. A few weeks of planning now can save you months of cleanup.
How to work with me
Strategic Planning Sprint
6 weeks
$5K
Six sessions with you and your key people.
You get a written plan that puts your team on the same page about where you’re going and how you’ll win.
Customer Discovery Sprint
8 weeks
$15K
We talk to 5 to 10 of your customers, suppliers and partners to test what your plan is betting on.
You get requirements, risks and diagrams your team can build from.
Rescue Mission
90 days
From $50K
For when the plan is already moving and things are out of control. I come in and get everyone clear on what needs to happen.
Then I check the work as it comes in, so your team gets back on track.
FAQ
Why not just hire someone from a big company?
At a big company, they had infrastructure, support and resources. Your business doesn’t have all that yet. So they end up pointing out the problems, but they can’t solve them, because they’ve never actually solved those problems.
What is strategic planning, exactly?
It’s a process that helps your team agree where to focus and why, and keep adjusting as things change. You look at what’s changing around your business, sketch a few ways the future could go, and pick a direction that still works if things don’t go as planned.
I don’t have time to slow down and plan.
You keep jumping in to save the day because there’s no plan to fall back on. Most leaders know they need one, but they think it has to be perfect before they start. What works is a plan you test and adjust as you learn.
Things are changing too fast to plan.
A detailed plan won’t last long, and you can’t handle every change yourself. Most of your people only see the work in front of them. They don’t see what’s happening around the business, or why you’re making the choices you are. Once they understand where you’re going and what it’ll take to win, they can figure things out for themselves.
Shouldn’t my team already be planning?
Yes. But it’s hard to see the big picture when you’re in the middle of it. Someone from outside can ask the questions nobody inside will.
What if my team is already on the same page?
Most teams think they are. But when things aren’t getting done, it’s usually because each person has a different picture of what done looks like. Getting each one there takes work you don’t have time for. So I have each person lay out how you win on their own. When you look at them next to each other, that’s where you start seeing what doesn’t line up.
We’ve tried planning before. Nobody followed it.
When people aren’t part of the choices, they can’t see how the plan affects their work. So they go back to waiting for someone to tell them what to do. We make the choices with you and your key people, and keep it simple enough for them to take to the rest of the team.