How can GrowthWheel be used to produce
information to investors and lenders?

The GrowthWheel Framework and Toolbox is working with a 360 degree view on the business and can help produce relevant information for investors and lenders in five ways:

1. Produce a 30-60-90 Action and Decision Plan
2. Produce improved basis for the financial projections
3. Produce investor presentation with specific GrowthWheel tools
4. Produce a due diligence binder
5. Produce input for the conventional business plan

These five ways for produce information are further described below:
 

Re. 1: Produce a 30-60-90 Action and Decision Plan

The main outcome of a process with GrowthWheel is a 30-60-90 Action Plan, with option for a longer time horizon as well. For investors this will be a very credible plan because it is operational and because it shows the entrepreneurs understanding of priorities in their business and how they are going to realize their plans.

Also a 30-60-90 Decision Plan is very credible, because it communicates the decisions that has not yet been made. Rather than trying to present a perfect plan for the future, this approach stays true to the reality of start-ups and scale-up companies, which constantly have to adapt to the current reality.
 

Re. 2. Produce improved basis for the financial projections

A budget or a financial projection for lenders and investors represents all the decisions the company has made about its activities. —If a new employee is to be hired, it's in the budget, and if a marketing campaign is planned, the same and so forth.

In this way the process with GrowthWheel — where you identify all the key Focus Areas and make a specific action plans — is directly related to the financials. With a detailed 30-60-90 Action Plan as a basis for the budget the numbers become more realistic and stakeholder can see the direct relationship between the financial planning and the operational planning.

Re. 3. Produce investor presentation with specific GrowthWheel tools
GrowthWheel can be used directly to prepare and investor presentation because this process also is about giving stakeholders a 360 view on the business while emphasizing some key perspectives. The GrowthWheel Framework itself is very well suited to be an outline for an investor pitch or as an opening slide to present the challenges and opportunities in the business.

Furthermore the GrowthWheel Toolbox also contains more than 20 tools that specifically address the process of getting financing. Examples of such tools is the framework “Capital Injection” which give an overview of 7 key questions to ask before getting financing or the Decision Sheet “Investment Catalogue” which help show how additional capital is to be used and when the investment will give a return.

Re. 4. Produce a due diligence binder

A fourth way GrowthWheel can help prepare an information package for a bank or an investor, is by assisting in producing a due diligence binder, which contains all the documentation needed to evaluate the viability of the business.  For many investors the historic track record is as important — if not more — than the future expectations, so providing this kind of information can add to the credibility of the business.

The GrowthWheel toolbox has a specific tools to create a due diligence binder including the Decision Sheet “Bankinformation”, and articles about how to do this. But more importantly the content of the due diligence binder will be the result of a number of other decisions and actions which is a part of the GrowthWheel process.

For example the due diligence binder might contain various partnership agreements, documentation of the sales process or a description of service standards, and the GrowthWheel Toolbox have Decision Sheets to make decisions about all these.

Re. 5. Produce input for the conventional business plan
The final way GrowthWheel Tools can be used for investor and banking relations is by providing the input to write a conventional business plan.  When such a document is required in addition to financial projections the GrowthWheel tools can help provide all the content for the written document.

The hardest and most time consuming part of the business planning process is to analyze and conclude on decisions about the future business.  The GrowthWheel tools are designed for this, so once decisions are made the conclusions can be written up in the business plan document. The creative,  flexible and holistic approach of Growthawheel can in this way help produce a business plan of higher quality.