Find your next growth move
Portfolio truth, growth options by risk, and one funded decision.
Half a day with the numbers to hand Owners and executives deciding where next year's growth comes from
Growth conversations drift because three different questions get argued at once: what is the portfolio actually doing, which direction is worth the risk, and could we change the game instead of playing it harder? This sequence takes them one at a time and ends with a funded commitment rather than a mood.
Bring real numbers to step one — growth rates and relative share per product line. The rest of the sequence is only as honest as that first grid.
- 1
See the portfolio as it is with a BCG Matrix
Before choosing new growth, establish who funds whom today. Which product is the cash cow, which question marks are being drip-fed to death, and which dog survives on nostalgia? Every entry gets a decision: invest, hold, harvest, or kill.
Carry forward
The freed-up cash and attention from anything you decided to harvest or kill — that is your growth budget.
- 2
Rank the growth options by risk with Ansoff
List real options in all four quadrants with a cost and return estimate each. The discipline is exhausting market penetration first — a five-point retention improvement usually beats a new market launch and costs a tenth as much.
Carry forward
Your top option per quadrant, priced. If diversification is winning the argument, the burden of proof it must meet: what transfers, and what failing would cost.
- 3
Check for a game-change with an ERRC grid
Before funding a fight in the red ocean, spend an hour on the alternative: which industry-standard factors could you eliminate or reduce to fund raising and creating others? If the grid produces something real, it may beat every Ansoff option on the table.
Carry forward
Either a genuine ERRC play worth testing, or the confidence that head-to-head growth is the right call — both are wins.
- 4
Fund exactly one move with OKRs
A growth strategy that funds three directions funds none. Convert the winning option into one quarter's OKRs: an objective stating the move, key results with baselines, and — critically — the not-doing list that names the options you just declined.
Carry forward
One funded, measured growth commitment, and a written record of the roads not taken so the argument does not restart in six weeks.
What you walk away with
A portfolio with explicit invest/harvest/kill decisions, growth options priced by risk, a tested game-change idea, and one funded move with numbers attached.
Start with step one
The BCG Matrix editor opens with guided prompts on every block — 20-30 minutes to a first draft.
Begin: BCG Matrix