The value of a North Star Aspiration

Many business leaders that have hit a revenue plateau are caught in the whirlwind that is day-to-day business. Whilst they have looked at a long-term strategy, maybe even have a growth revenue number written down for where they would like to be in 3 to 5 years, few have clarity on where they are aspiring to be as a business.

This train analogy works well. If you are in New York today and your aspiration is to make it to San Francisco, there is a purpose to all your endeavours and challenges you will face along the way. The challenges faced may make you deviate for a period, but once you overcome them, you get back on the train to the destination you aspire to.

As you think broader, this translates to your team. If they understand what the business is aspiring to be, then they also willingly get on the train, and most importantly provide the support needed to overcome challenges on the journey. As the team expands, the story to new hires becomes about the destination of the business, what you are aspiring to be. This adding greater value to the new hire, being aware where they could offer that additional value.

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How to define the North Star

Few businesses are created with absolutely clarity on what they will be in five years’ time and what the exit for the business is. The reality is that the founder or the business leaders will be testing new ideas each time their business hits a revenue plateau. This makes defining a North Star aspiration quite difficult. How do you make it more tangible?  

A starting point may well be to get the absolute basics in place, which is to know how you are going to achieve scalable growth. Completing a Market Attribution Framework identifies the products that can scale and that there is a market need. Importantly, it sets you on the path for differentiation in your market.

Market Differentiation

Once you have clarity on your market differentiation you have the basis of what you aspire to be in your market. By completing a Market Map exercise, you can see how big your growth potential is and who will be your key competitors. The creation of the story to your Core Customer on why you are different from your competitors is a similar story as to where you plan the business to be in three to five years. Using the train analogy, we now have the train to get us to San Francisco, but what is in San Francisco, why do we aspire to go there?

Aspiration

In most cases for business leaders, the San Francisco destination is a crystallisation of the business. Whether that be an exit or a round of funding. It is a clear milestone where the business needs to change to get to the next level of growth. Who knows there may be external funding needed at one of the stations en-route. The aspiration on where the business is intending to go is a critical component in the sourcing of funds.

Working backwards

If your timeline for your San Francisco arrival is five years, you need to start working back from that timeline. If each milestone is a station on your journey, what would you need to have achieved in three years, then two years, then 12 months, then three months. The shorter the timeline, the more granular you need to be on what you need to have achieved.

Outcome

The outcome is a Strategic Framework that defines your North Star aspiration and focus on a single page. The single page is important as it needs to provide clarity to your internal teams in a form they can easily consume. It also provides clarity to an external investor that the business has a clear strategy to achieve scalable growth. An exit maybe set at five years, but business needs to be ready if an opportunity arises earlier.  

A Single Page Framework would feature:

• One phrase strategy
• In three years, we will be…

• In five years, we aspire to be…
• Core competencies
• Four differentiators of focus
• Core market
• Core Customer persona

A North Star exploration should be combined with the insights gathered from the Market Map, Core Customer, and Market Attribution Framework.  

• The Market Map – What type of customer buys this product and service, and how does this align to the current go-to-market model.  How big a business change is this going to be?
  
• Core Customer – Who is the target audience for these products and services, what are their roles, what are their core needs, what are their drivers.  This targeted strategic insight establishes the foundation for the development of a unique position for the business in serving the needs of this market.
  

• Market Attribution Framework - is a methodology to identify products where there is a Market need and to create a differentiated strategic position in the market from which to achieve revenue growth.