Our client, a global food and beverage giant, invested significant resources developing a next-generation smart water dispenser system: think personalized flavor combinations with health enhancers and no more single-use waste.
With state-of-the-art hardware and software already in place, our client sought the right commercialization path and business model to secure long-term success, operating independently from the core business.
Obtaining the much-needed external funding in just a few months, the new business model could operate independently and successfully scale - slowly but steadily. With a robust plan for future expansion and the right governance structures in place, the client now has a basis to build a blueprint for potential future projects.
After multiple years of research and investment in cutting edge hardware, software, and a mobile application, our client was struggling to gain traction for its pioneering water dispenser product. Having trialled a B2C and B2B approach and both cases encountering significant hurdles, there were three core challenges to address:
Running a series of workshops with stakeholders, analyzing the product in detail, and examining potential routes to market we assessed the viability of the proposed venture. Factoring market conditions, team structure, product roadmap, value proposition, and potential business models, we presented a series of high-level options to take it to market - all backed by data.
Our assessment showed a B2B model offered a path forward with huge growth potential and a significant chance for the venture to be operational and independent within six months. Targeting a high-end office audience, we presented the dispenser system as a means for offices to eradicate (or significantly limit) plastic bottles while affording workers more healthy choices. With strategic alignment agreed, we begun architecting the venture from the ground up and engaging the prospective market.
With a go-to-market proposition defined, our team conducted deep discovery and market analysis to surface potential distribution partners and construct a target list of priority prospects. The next step was to pick up the phone and speak to potential buyers and establish relationships with all facets of the supply chain.
Over the course of 12 weeks, our team obtained distribution partnerships in key regions and uncovered multiple active opportunities for the venture's business development teams to pick up when ready to enter the market.
Bringing venture capital logic to the process, we conducted further market analysis, ran multiple surveys and focus groups, and compiled a robust business case for potential investors. Our efforts secured letters of interest from more than 100 investment sources.
Alongside our efforts to gain traction and build key partnerships, we worked with the client to define in granular detail how the venture would operate. Reviewing commercials, capital structure, management setup, legal frameworks, and regulatory requirements, we devised a robust governance model ready to hit the ground running.
Rather than producing a five-year plan based on arbitrary targets, we worked in collaboration with our client to chart a comprehensive roadmap with agreed KPIs for each phase. Factoring in funding gateways and drawing on our deep experience in taking ventures to market, we developed an actionable plan with clear step-by-step instructions for the venture team to follow.
With investor interest secured, market traction, and a roadmap for the venture to follow, our teams began building the business complete with leadership, product teams, technology ecosystem, marketing strategy, financial models, and necessary structures to facilitate growth. Leveraging our discovery work and market data, we pursued the goal of attracting seed-funding in as short a time as possible. To that end, we:
This is how we collaborated to assist the client in demonstrating the viability of their healthy-water business, gaining market traction, securing investment, and successfully excubating the venture.
We analyzed the venture's ability to initiate independent operations and find a potential product-market fit through workshops, product assessments, and market research.
Established relationships with distribution and supply chain partners and connected with potential sales targets. During this phase we closed a key partnership and found over a dozen sales opportunities.
With a lean setup phase and high-level plan for future rounds, the venture had a clear strategy to procure vital funds.
Drawing on our experiences working with investors and our knowledge of the venture, we produced a detailed guide and actionable plan for the venture to get further funding.
We built the new venture from the ground up, including leadership, financial models, operational governances, marketing strategy, and necessary structures to ensure successful launch into the market.
Connecting with more than 100 investors and providing comprehensive supporting materials for the venture, we helped obtain a multi-million CHF investment and set the venture up for independent success.
In only five months, the spin off was successfully in motion. The venture secured CHF single-million-range funding from selected investors, and the visionary co-founder/CEO we scouted took the helm to drive expansion, team capabilities, and future investment rounds.
The client is now benefitting from diversified revenues and has a clear framework and roadmap to explore new commercialization opportunities with future research endeavors.
