Case studies
Visionary leaders use SVSG for AI and Digital transformations
Our clients are making better investment and growth decisions by injecting Silicon Valley flow into their processes.
Digitally transforming business process with AI
A high-end digital marketplace balanced value creation and change management in order to break out of their hesitation to change.
A company that had created a digital marketplace for high end physical assets was struggling to capitalize on market demand. The pandemic had led to an increase in consumer interest for their offering, but their business processes were not scaling.
The problem came down to a knowledge gap that existed between tenured staff and new hires. The company’s value was derived by the proprietary business process it had accumulated having sold thousands of properties, all of which had been encapsulated in a digital tool to guide staff on best practices for selling and servicing customers. Each time the business encountered a new customer criteria, they created a new rule in the software. This worked fine in the beginning when the workforce was small and the rules could be shared organically, but with each new rule the onboarding training time grew. Eventually, the ramp time for new hires became a tipping point, where onboarding became so overwhelming that staff churn became an impediment to growth. The business desperately needed to grow its workforce, and knew it needed to take a new approach. More rules would not solve the problem.
SVSG first conducted a digital assessment which revealed that the company, unbeknownst to management, had been collecting a rich data store that could be used to streamline much of the business process if the business shifted away from a rules based system to a machine learning based approach; wherein the software could leverage predictive analytics to continuously update customer and employee behavioral changes into the relevant product experiences. With these insights, SVSG designed a digital blueprint that provided a step by step implementation plan to overhaul the product and technology accordingly.
The plan provided a phased approach that balanced value creation and change management into delineated milestones. This allowed the company to break out of their analysis paralysis hesitation to change, and onto a meaningful digital transformation into a data and AI enabled business that could onboard new staff with ease.
Prioritizing the product roadmap on EBITDA
A PE firm increased their EBIDTA by 10%.
A PE firm had bought two call center companies with the goal of combining efficiencies through a digital transformation. Both companies operated with traditional, manual offline processes and management was convinced of the opportunity to drive revenue and efficiencies with digital technologies. The challenge the company faced was that with the myriad of performance improvement options it was unclear where to start.
As part of SVSG’s digital assessment, we first mapped the business KPIs, such as workforce conversion rates, to the corresponding product and technology KPIs by developing and assessing a process flow of the customer and employee journeys. We identified the biggest friction points in each journey which allowed us to quantify the impact of improvement.
For each friction point, we then employed our Digital Flow playbook to identify solutions based on similar scenarios we have encountered in our collective experiences as hands-on CTO and CPO operators. We performed a build vs buy assessment, resulting in three initiatives that together would provide a 10% increase in EBIDTA.
With this focus, the company was able to proceed with their digital transformation knowing they were tracking toward the biggest value drivers for the business.
What’s the overhead?
A leading cybersecurity company achieved on-time release after a prominent acquisition.
A leading cybersecurity company had identified an acquisition target that had the potential to significantly accelerate their product roadmap.
As part of the due diligence process, the company wanted to assess the quality of the technology, and jump start the integration process.
SVSG reviewed the product roadmaps and technical architecture of both companies in order to develop a roll out plan that included all dependencies and internal resource allocation needed to hit the release deadlines of the financial model used to justify the acquisition.
With plan in hand, the acquirer was able to hit the ground running on day 1, which resulted in an on time release.
How useful is the product?
A large VC firm gained peace of mind knowing that they were not missing out on the next big thing.
A large VC was evaluating an early stage startup that had built automated testing tools for software developers. The startup had a great pitch deck, a tech-savvy team, and happy early customers. But there is a big difference between pain, and screaming pain, and this VC asked our take as to where this company’s roadmap would land on that spectrum. CTOs from our braintrust reviewed the pitch deck, product demo and roadmap and reported back that the startup’s future state would only provide incremental improvements over the roadmaps of its better funded competitors. The investor gained peace of mind knowing that they were not missing out on the next big thing.
Is the IP defensible?
An investor group was able to negotiate down the valuation to properly account for the product maturity.
An investor was impressed by the pitch given by an adtech company in the VR space. The company claimed to have developed proprietary IP that could place digital adverts in the metaverse in a novel way. We were brought in early in the deal cycle to evaluate both claims. While the ad placement method was indeed novel, the technology turned out to be an adaptation of an open source library and the proprietary code from the company was much less than had been claimed. Because the investor did their diligence early in the process, they were able to negotiate down the valuation to properly account for the product maturity and the further development needed to prove out competitive advantage.
Why is the tech not working?
A PE Firm reduced operating margins by 25% after an adtech acquisition.
A PE firm had bought a promising adtech company. They set out to invest in AI technology that would automate a business process that was currently being performed manually and represented a double digit line item in the operating expenses. The company’s management felt confident in their ability to design and develop the technology and assigned a senior tech leader from their in-house team to lead the effort. Unfortunately, the individual in charge had never developed an AI solution. One year later, the company was six months behind schedule with an MVP that performed no better than chance. The PE firm brought SVSG in to assess the situation. The management worried that the team had developed the wrong set of algorithms. An SVSG CTO with extensive AI experience led the investigation and was able to quickly pinpoint the issues the company was facing. As it turned out, the company had selected a suitable machine learning platform, but had numerous gaps in their data pipeline leading to corrupted models. With the issue pinpointed, the company was able to deliver a working solution that led to a 25% drop on operating margins.
Are the assets worthwhile?
A financial services firm made an informed decision to acquire the assets of a startup that had recently closed its operations.
A financial services firm was looking to acquire the assets of a startup that had recently closed its operations. The startup claimed to have developed novel AI technology but was unable to reach product market fit. The acquirer saw the potential to accelerate the product roadmap for one of their offerings, and wanted to know to what extent the AI was proprietary and whether the technology was suitable to be managed by their in-house team. SVSG CTOs determined that the technology was sound, but that there was significant technical debt and little documentation. Further, the founders exhibited exceptional talent, and as such the acquirer felt confident in increasing the retention packages to bring the team in-house along with the assets.
What’s the overhead?
A leading cybersecurity company achieved on-time release after a prominent acquisition.
A leading cybersecurity company had identified an acquisition target that had the potential to significantly accelerate their product roadmap.
As part of the due diligence process, the company wanted to assess the quality of the technology, and jump start the integration process.
SVSG reviewed the product roadmaps and technical architecture of both companies in order to develop a roll out plan that included all dependencies and internal resource allocation needed to hit the release deadlines of the financial model used to justify the acquisition.
With plan in hand, the acquirer was able to hit the ground running on day 1, which resulted in an on time release.
How useful is the product?
A large VC firm gained peace of mind knowing that they were not missing out on the next big thing.
A large VC was evaluating an early stage startup that had built automated testing tools for software developers. The startup had a great pitch deck, a tech-savvy team, and happy early customers. But there is a big difference between pain, and screaming pain, and this VC asked our take as to where this company’s roadmap would land on that spectrum. CTOs from our braintrust reviewed the pitch deck, product demo and roadmap and reported back that the startup’s future state would only provide incremental improvements over the roadmaps of its better funded competitors. The investor gained peace of mind knowing that they were not missing out on the next big thing.
Is the IP defensible?
An investor group was able to negotiate down the valuation to properly account for the product maturity.
An investor was impressed by the pitch given by an adtech company in the VR space. The company claimed to have developed proprietary IP that could place digital adverts in the metaverse in a novel way. We were brought in early in the deal cycle to evaluate both claims. While the ad placement method was indeed novel, the technology turned out to be an adaptation of an open source library and the proprietary code from the company was much less than had been claimed. Because the investor did their diligence early in the process, they were able to negotiate down the valuation to properly account for the product maturity and the further development needed to prove out competitive advantage.
Are the assets worthwhile?
A financial services firm made an informed decision to acquire the assets of a startup that had recently closed its operations.
A financial services firm was looking to acquire the assets of a startup that had recently closed its operations. The startup claimed to have developed novel AI technology but was unable to reach product market fit. The acquirer saw the potential to accelerate the product roadmap for one of their offerings, and wanted to know to what extent the AI was proprietary and whether the technology was suitable to be managed by their in-house team. SVSG CTOs determined that the technology was sound, but that there was significant technical debt and little documentation. Further, the founders exhibited exceptional talent, and as such the acquirer felt confident in increasing the retention packages to bring the team in-house along with the assets.
Digitally transforming business process with AI
A high-end digital marketplace balanced value creation and change management in order to break out of their hesitation to change.
A company that had created a digital marketplace for high end physical assets was struggling to capitalize on market demand. The pandemic had led to an increase in consumer interest for their offering, but their business processes were not scaling.
The problem came down to a knowledge gap that existed between tenured staff and new hires. The company’s value was derived by the proprietary business process it had accumulated having sold thousands of properties, all of which had been encapsulated in a digital tool to guide staff on best practices for selling and servicing customers. Each time the business encountered a new customer criteria, they created a new rule in the software. This worked fine in the beginning when the workforce was small and the rules could be shared organically, but with each new rule the onboarding training time grew. Eventually, the ramp time for new hires became a tipping point, where onboarding became so overwhelming that staff churn became an impediment to growth. The business desperately needed to grow its workforce, and knew it needed to take a new approach. More rules would not solve the problem.
SVSG first conducted a digital assessment which revealed that the company, unbeknownst to management, had been collecting a rich data store that could be used to streamline much of the business process if the business shifted away from a rules based system to a machine learning based approach; wherein the software could leverage predictive analytics to continuously update customer and employee behavioral changes into the relevant product experiences. With these insights, SVSG designed a digital blueprint that provided a step by step implementation plan to overhaul the product and technology accordingly.
The plan provided a phased approach that balanced value creation and change management into delineated milestones. This allowed the company to break out of their analysis paralysis hesitation to change, and onto a meaningful digital transformation into a data and AI enabled business that could onboard new staff with ease.
Prioritizing the product roadmap on EBITDA
A PE firm increased their EBIDTA by 10%.
A PE firm had bought two call center companies with the goal of combining efficiencies through a digital transformation. Both companies operated with traditional, manual offline processes and management was convinced of the opportunity to drive revenue and efficiencies with digital technologies. The challenge the company faced was that with the myriad of performance improvement options it was unclear where to start.
As part of SVSG’s digital assessment, we first mapped the business KPIs, such as workforce conversion rates, to the corresponding product and technology KPIs by developing and assessing a process flow of the customer and employee journeys. We identified the biggest friction points in each journey which allowed us to quantify the impact of improvement.
For each friction point, we then employed our Digital Flow playbook to identify solutions based on similar scenarios we have encountered in our collective experiences as hands-on CTO and CPO operators. We performed a build vs buy assessment, resulting in three initiatives that together would provide a 10% increase in EBIDTA.
With this focus, the company was able to proceed with their digital transformation knowing they were tracking toward the biggest value drivers for the business.
Why is the tech not working?
A PE Firm reduced operating margins by 25% after an adtech acquisition.
A PE firm had bought a promising adtech company. They set out to invest in AI technology that would automate a business process that was currently being performed manually and represented a double digit line item in the operating expenses. The company’s management felt confident in their ability to design and develop the technology and assigned a senior tech leader from their in-house team to lead the effort. Unfortunately, the individual in charge had never developed an AI solution. One year later, the company was six months behind schedule with an MVP that performed no better than chance. The PE firm brought SVSG in to assess the situation. The management worried that the team had developed the wrong set of algorithms. An SVSG CTO with extensive AI experience led the investigation and was able to quickly pinpoint the issues the company was facing. As it turned out, the company had selected a suitable machine learning platform, but had numerous gaps in their data pipeline leading to corrupted models. With the issue pinpointed, the company was able to deliver a working solution that led to a 25% drop on operating margins.