Harbor Pilots helps early stage ventures achieve Market Alignment and get their venture out of the harbor and moving to their strategic destination.
We lead clients through our Market Alignment Process (MAP) which aligns the whole venture team around a fully developed solution concept. This solution concept aligns with the inventors’ grand vision and documents why the company exists and what success really looks like. Soldifying this concept and properly documenting what the various venture team clientele demand from the venture and gaining agreement on a single solution concept is a crucial step in full market alignment.
A clearly articulated solution concept clarifies the target market, financial goals, pricing, offering attributes and sales channels. Our Rapid Alignment Program (RAP) brings the venture team together with subject matter experts and representatives from their target customers into a 2 day workshop and results in a detailed offer concept that drives the rest of the MAP.
But rarely can a venture team draw a straight line between where a venture team is today and their grand vision. They don’t have the funding, they can’t prove user value, buyers aren’t ready yet, new business models need to be proven in the market, etc. New ventures must zig and zag and adapt to early customers needs, investor requirements, react to competitors, etc. This is where ventures lose alignment. We have a practical solution that keeps a venture moving towards it grand vision while remaining practical and focused on meeting concrete business requirements. As part of a Harbor Pilots MAP we create Value Trading Points (VTPs). VTPs are a series of concrete milestones with exit criteria and estimated valuations that keep the founder, investors and the chief executive moving towards the grand vision while delivering business outcomes.