HIGHLIGHT:
About us
Simon-Kucher & Partners is a global consultancy with a clear focus on top-line growth. With more than 1,400 employees in 25 countries worldwide, the firm delivers solutions for measurable revenue and profit growth for clients from all industries and regions.
Jan Weiser is a Partner at Simon-Kucher’s Singapore office. He has more than 15 years of experience in advising national and international clients, all in the field of strategy, pricing, and sales. Jan leads Simon-Kucher’s Life Sciences, Insurance, and Tech practices in Asia.
Chetan Prakash is a Director at Simon-Kucher’s’ Singapore office and has over 10 years of experience in strategy and monetization, data analytics, and consulting across financial institutions, utilities, and logistics. He is also part of the Simon-Kucher global CSR committee where he is driving Simon-Kucher’s sustainability and pro bono initiatives in the region, including mentoring of startups.
Question 1: Please briefly explain the context of the mentorship.
"Simon-Kucher has been actively supporting various programs with Expara ventures in the region and recently started mentoring startups as part of the Space-F program. Space-F is the first and most comprehensive FoodTech startup incubator and accelerator in Thailand."
Question 2: What was the most important aspect of the business that needed change
at that point?
"The most significant part of the business that needed change was the lack of focus in their growth and acquisition strategy. The team did not have a clearly defined target customer segment and as a result could not communicate a clear value proposition for customers.
This also meant that the team did not have much insight into their customers’ willingness to pay."
Question 3: What was the one thing you have advised them & had led to a significant impact?
"Put customer demand and willingness to pay at the front and centre if you want to excel in product innovation, grow, and extract value at the same time.
This simultaneously translates into segmenting target customers and understanding their willingness to pay based on the value provided by your product. Once this transparency is created, product development and sales can be aligned and prioritized according to the most promising/profitable customer segments.
Startups easily fall into the trap of catering to every potential lead in the pursuit of growing the customer base and revenue. But with limited resources, such an approach could be the downfall of the organization.
Have a growth strategy that is based on the fundamentals of a laser sharp focus on target customers and willingness to pay. This will mean you have to refuse certain customers and sources of revenue, but as a benefit it completely changes the innovation game from hoping to monetize to knowing you will."
Question 4: What is the inspiring thought you wish to pass to the entrepreneurs during this time?
“Be everything for somebody rather than something for everybody”
Published on 28th Nov. 2020