This document discusses organizational insights for a company. It includes an agenda covering GM/Opex analysis, organizational structure, business processes, strategy and business development team charter, and culture. The GM/Opex analysis evaluates different business units. The organizational structure section proposes a high-performance structure. The business processes section outlines key processes like project lifecycles and monthly operations reviews. The strategy and BD team charter defines the charter and due diligence process. Finally, the culture section lists elements of a winning culture like accountability, hiring, incentives, and professionalism.

1. © 2016 Karthik Ethirajan, all rights reserved
Organizational Insights
Karthik Ethirajan
July 2014

2. © 2016 Karthik Ethirajan, all rights reserved
2
Agenda
1. GM/Opex Analysis
2. Org Structure
3. Business Processes
4. Strategy & BD Team Charter
5. Culture

3. © 2016 Karthik Ethirajan, all rights reserved
3
Using GM/Opex metric to analyze current state of business
Non-Products
Num. of
Resources
Functional Mix
G&A
Executives
Admins
Finance
IT
Marketing
Sales
Operations
38
10
3
4
1
6
5
9
4 VP, 6 Directors
3 Admins
1 Controller, 3 Managers
1 Engineer
3 Managers, 3 Analysts
5 Managers
2 Managers, 7 Analysts
Others
Accelerator
DMP
Privacy
36
4
29
3
4 BD
1 Director, 8 PM, 20 Engineers
3 PM
Total 74
Methodology
• Annual revenue forecast is December 2014
forecast x 12
• Number of resources are estimates made from
org chart
• Roles are abstracted into fewer titles
• Opex only includes headcount labor spend. An
average of $152K/person is used except for VPs
• Projects with GM/Opex in green are over
performing, and those in red are under performing
compared to overall GM/Opex
GM/Opex Analysis
Vet revenue potential rather than
resource allocation for new
business initiatives
Market
Potential ?
Over
Staffed ?
Cash Cow
Jackpot!New
Business
Mature
Business
Optimize resource utilized by
mature business
GM/Opex in Red GM/Opex in Green

4. © 2016 Karthik Ethirajan, all rights reserved
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A view of a high performance org structure
Executive Oversight
Strategy & BD
DMP
Marketing Communications
Non-Mediated
PM
OwnedApps
PM
OperatedApps
PM
Commerce
PM
Dev
• B2B & B2C Brand
Marketing
• PR / Events
• Marketing collateral
• B2B Sales
• Sales Operations
• Sales Channel
Strategy
• New Opportunity
Evaluation
• Incubator
(<$1M revenue)
Dev Dev Dev
• 1 Director
• 4 Managers
• 1 Manager
• 1 Analyst
• CEO & CFO
• 2 VPs
• 1 Director
• 4 Managers
• 2 Analysts
• 2 Directors
• 2 Analysts
BusinessTeam
• P&L
• Business Case
• Strategic
Partnerships
• Product Management
• Product Roadmap
Analytics
PM
Dev
Campaign Operations
Sales
• 1 Director
• 2 Managers
• 4 Analysts
• 1 Director
• 2 Managers
• 10 Developers
• Vision, Overall
Strategy & Execution
• SLT Communication
• P&L
• Campaign
Onboarding
• Yield Optimization
• Reporting
• Platform
Architecture
• Vendor Management
• Implementation
ProductTeam
Roles Responsibilities Resources*
• For <$100M revenue
• Arrows compare current assignments
• 1 Director
• 6 Managers
• 30 Developers
• Product
Development
• Product Releases
• Agile Process

5. © 2016 Karthik Ethirajan, all rights reserved
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Processes key to successful business execution
EVAL INCUBATE GROWTH MATURE
Project
Scale &
Scope
Project
Lifecycle
$0 Rev
$1M Rev
MAX Rev
4-8 Weeks 12-18 Months 2-3 Years 5-10 Years
Strategy BD PM PM
Beta
Gate
Commercial
Gate
Sustenance
Gate
Length of
Time
Led by
Phase Gate Approval Process
• Project plan
• Transition plan
• Add/remove resources
• Set Go/No Go criteria
• Partnership status
• CAPEX requirements
(e.g., new hardware,
software licenses, etc.)
• Product performance
• Market readiness
Product
Phase
Gates
Monthly Ops Review Process
 Conduct all day session
 Standardize dashboards & metrics
to be tracked
 Let the product owners (PM & BD)
present
 Review each function:
o Overall financials
o Sales funnel
o Campaign ops
o New business development
o Current products
o Platform status
Other
Processes
New opportunity evaluation, product development reviews,
partner diligence, etc. are conducted at the functional group
level

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1
• Market research & assess fit
• First partner touch point
• 1-2 weeks
Preliminary Assessment
• Understand value prop
• Business term agreement
• 1-2 weeks
Business Diligence
• Explore legal & privacy
• Technology deep dive
• Platform integration
assessment
• 2-3 months
Technical Diligence
Invitee List for
Partner Week
3
2
Qualified
Partner Offers
Business
Model
Partner
Integration
Plan
~ 10 partners
~ 7 partners
~ 2 partners
Partner
Rap Sheet
Execute
NDA
Execute
Contract
Strategy & Business Development team charter
External Perspective
(Do Market Research)
TAM / Growth
Competitors
Customer unmet needs
Value chain
Best practices
Products & Features
Technology
Internal Perspective
(Assess Strategic Fit)
Synergy / Cannibalization
Platform capabilities
Value proposition
NRE / CAPEX requirements
Roadmap fit / Adjacency
Scale & scope
Resource impact
Business Plan
Revenue forecast
Pricing
Product
Roadmap
Development
Project Plan
Budget
Resources
Partnerships
Due diligence
Contract
Marketing
Positioning
Launch plan
Collateral
Partner Due DiligenceIncubator
New Opportunity
Evaluation

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7
Key elements of a winning culture
 Ownership & accountability go together
 Push product ownership to PM and BD
managers
 Let PMs own P&L
 Cultivate high degree of individual
responsibility
 Rigorous hiring process
 In general, favor talent-based hiring to skill-
based hiring
 With talent and sufficient motivation, new
skills can be quickly learnt
 Incentivize employees appropriately
 Tie bonuses to individual performance
 Make promotions highly visible & set
expectations on how to move to the next level
 Matrix management
 Developers will work on project teams and
report to the project lead, and not to their line
manager
 Fair performance appraisals
 Collect self-appraisals, feedback from project
leads and assign ratings
 Conduct two reviews per year
 Own your task
 Set the bar high for professional delivery at
ops review and phase gate reviews
 Remember the context at customer meetings
 Learn & document
 Know your product & the business
 Create and maintain documents that are clear,
concise and up to date
 Master information management
 Be able to manage basic productivity tools
such as emails & calendar
 Read emails
 Learn to do advanced searches
 Be professional
 Respond to colleagues, be it via email, calls,
IM, or others
 Be on time to meetings
 Be on top of administrative tasks such as
expense reports, status emails, acknowledging
compliance policies, etc.
Organizational Focus Individual Focus