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Maturity Assessment
Select the responses that best match your current circumstances
© Copyright Bergman Holt Limited 2022
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Please enter your contact information.
(Required.)
Name
Company
Email Address
Phone Number
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Current stage of funding
(Required.)
Pre Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B
Series C +
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Current valuation
(Required.)
< £5m
£5m - £20m
£20m - £100m
£100m +
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Sector
(Required.)
Biotech/Life Sciences
Deep Tech/AI/Quantum
Cleantech/Greentech
Fintech
Web3
Other
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What is your staff breakdown?
(Required.)
Current
In 12 months
Scientific
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Technical
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Commercial
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Operational
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Support Services
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Leadership Team
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Board
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Current financial runway
(Required.)
< 6 months
6 - 12 months
12 - 24 months
24 months +
*
When is your next funding round?
(Required.)
< 6 months
6 - 12 months
12 - 24 months
24 months +
*
When do you expect to engage with customers?
(Required.)
Already engaged with customers
Planned for within 12 months
Planned for 12 - 24 months
Planned for 24 months +
*
To what extent is your company's strategy (in the sense of "where to play", "how to win") defined and understood both internally and externally?
(Required.)
Strategy is loose; in the sense that there is a broad vision and ambition for the business - but it is poorly structured and not articulated ("written down"). The day to day and month to month workings of the business are reactive at best, with little thought given to the medium to long-term direction of the business.
Founders and Leadership Team have a broad view as to "where to play" and "how to win", but there is limited articulation of this outside of this and the thinking is not well structured in this regard. The strategy remains broadly informal in natures, but it does guide some element of action in the business. The LT can, however, explain the overall vision and mission of the business to candidates.
There is broad clarity in the strategy, in the sense of where the business plays (sectors, markets, proposition) and how to win (key pillars of strategic action). These are articulated in company documents and related to candidates at interview.
Strategy is well defined by the Founders and Leadership Team, and is driving clear action in the business - over 18 to 36 month roadmaps. This strategy is defined and integrated into marketing materials for both internal and external consumption. Leaders use every opportunity to reinforce the strategy by linking it to current activities, KPIs etc
Strategy is defined and clearly understood across the business at all levels. The whole organisation lives by the strategic plan, and only undertakes work which aligns to the strategic goals of the business. Externally the business is recognised and held-up as an exemplar in this regard.
*
How well defined and understood are your company values?
(Required.)
Not at all, we have been concerned with other areas as the organisation was growing.
Values have been defined for the business, via discussions with Founders and Leadership Teams - but they are not regularly reviewed nor lived by in the business.
We have a clear set of values we can believe in, and we understand these deeply. We use these in our recruitment / wider communication. We try to live by them when we can.
Everyone in the company knows our Values. They are linked to performance reviews and Leaders are expected to act as role models.
Our Values have become second nature. We undertake regular reviews and ensure that all activities/ communication are aligned to our values. We asses how we live our values through surveys, feedback and performance reviews. We are seen as exemplar in our sector, in terms of how we set, live and breathe our values.
*
At a high level, what role do the Board or NEDs have in the organisation?
(Required.)
There is no Board in place or Non Executive Directors used in the business. Decisions are executed by the Leadership Team with no external counsel or checks & balances.
There is a Board in place, primarily driven by a requirement for basic governance - which may or may not have been stipulated by investors. The composition of the board is likely to comprise of "big ticket" investors or people who can stimulate further funding (such as professional advisors). Board meetings focus primarily on growth; there may or may not be a set structure and/or agenda in place.
The Board meets regularly and engages with the Leadership Team on key decisions. Board composition is a mix of industry veterans and forward thinkers, as well as other investors and advisors. Board meetings are effective, and well structured. Time is devoted to BAU activities - such as financial management, as well as growth activities. The Board understand the need to manage risk in the business, and do it well.
The Board works in tandem with the Leadership team on all aspects of major strategic decision making in the business; the two entities are well aligned. Board meetings are regular and highly effective, and the composition of the board id effective; diverse and provides the right level of support and challenge to the business.
The Board recognises its own requirement to evolve, as the company evolves. It actively puts in place strategies and plans to ensure this happens. Diversity is embedded in the Board to ensure a wide range of views and experiences are represented, and which reflect all our various stakeholders. Sub-boards and committees are in place as required. The Board is seen as exemplar within the sector, and is held up in such regard.
*
At a high level, what skills are missing within the Leadership team and organisation, and how well understood is their capability to enable rapid growth?
(Required.)
The business at present is led by a Founder or Co-Founder. There are a lot of "hard" skills missing (for example the CFO doesn't have traditional accounting training or the CMO is not a marketeer by background).
A basic leadership team in place, encompassing several functions. The business is starting to hire domain experts at the leadership team level who have experience in more complex, larger organisations or more mature start ups or scale-ups.
The leadership team is well formed with relevant industry experience, and there is clear accountability functionally and geographically. The team operates effectively as a group and there is synergy - in the sense that the whole leadership team is greater than the sum of its parts. There is more to do however, in terms of diversifying the team and / or bringing on leaders with more significant expertise from the market leaders / competition.
All required senior functional roles are in place. The leadership team works in tandem with a management team that now owns more of the delivery aspects of the organisations activity. The leadership team and Board are in lock-step, and there is clear delineation between them. Founders may beginning to step back from the Leadership Team - or certainly starting to look forward and planning this activity with the board.
A mature leadership team is in place with industry leading expertise, most of whom have owned successful outcomes in the past (trade sale, IPO, public listed company experience, etc.). Members of the LT are used to working in complex / large organisations and / or have scaled start-ups successfully.
*
How much effort or thinking goes into designing the organisation structure?
(Required.)
Minimal thought, we know who we have currently and their rough responsibilities, people have different ideas of headcount and their standing in the organisational chart.
We have had several discussions around organisation and the resources required in future. This is starting to take shape but no clear structure or actions have been confirmed.
We have an immediate organisation and resource plan for next 6 months, the resource plan is owned by the leadership team.
We have clear and agreed resource and organisation plan to enable significant growth over next 12 months. This is reviewed bi-annually and informs budgets and cost management.
We have clear and agreed resource and organisation plan covering the next 24 months fully integrated with our strategic plans. The Organisation and Resource plan is critical to keeping a measure of progress, but can be quickly adapted to meet market needs.
*
What level of HR support currently exists in the business and do you have defined HR policies in place?
(Required.)
At this stage of business, we don't have the need for HR support. The Founders and Leaders can handle with admin/legal support.
We have an external HR partner whom we use on an intermittent basis when we need HR Support. We have a few HR policies in place to be compliant (disciplinary, grievance etc).
We have a HR point of contact who is responsible for Policies, employment questions and oversees our Talent Acquisition. With their support we are building up policies, processes and employee engagement initiatives.
HR sits on the Leadership Team. The People strategy has been established that helps to drive our Business Strategy. We have an HR team fit for the size of the company, which may include Reward, Workforce Planning, Reward and Talent Specialists or perhaps just stand alone HR.
Our People Strategy and deliverables are fully integrated into all elements of the business; Customer, Sales, Routes to Market, Operations and Growth. The CPO/ HRD or Head of HR is fully integrated with the Leadership Team and will use the Board as a sounding platform and vice versa.
*
What process do you currently have in place for hiring and how successful has it been?
(Required.)
We have historically hired from our personal networks or referrals from trusted partners.
We have started defining job specs and leave it up to the individual hiring managers on how they recruit. Sign off for offer sits with Founder/CEO.
We have company standards for job specifications, an agreed hiring process, and recruitment partner(s) who helps us across all areas. Sign off for offer sits with x2 members of Leadership Team.
We have recruitment marketing campaigns associated with our hiring, which is driven by a basic Employer Value Proposition. We may have started building internal Talent Acquisition capability and applicant tracking systems. We utilise one or 2 search firms for senior hires.
We have on-going recruitment campaigns in the market place on various channels, we have a trusted search partner and TA specialists who understand all areas of the business in detail and consistent approach to hiring. There are systems and KPI's in place and these provide automated information to leadership on hiring status.
*
How does the organisation decide what to offer a candidate?
(Required.)
We do not have a structured approach, we consider a candidates last role and provide an uplift from there (if necessary). A bonus may be provided on an ad hoc basis.
The salary offered is based on the candidates relative experience compared to other team members and basic knowledge of the market. A discretionary % additional bonus maybe provided.
Total earnings are considered (Base Salary and Variable pay) when making an offer. A degree of formal salary benchmarking has been undertaken. Variable Pay schemes are documented and easily communicated to candidates. Resource cost budgets are held at company level.
Salary bands have been developed for roles based on external benchmarking and a corresponding variable pay structure. These bands are utilised for offers and promotions. The Leadership Team have the responsibility to maintain resource costs within budget.
We understand both the Total Value of the offer and the Total Cost of Employment. We can flex offers to meet a candidates needs within a framework, whilst managing the cost base and parity to others. Value and Costs are banded by role type/level and integrated within a Career Development model for future career and earnings progression.
*
What role does an equity scheme have in your company?
(Required.)
None at this stage - we either haven't considered offering equity to employees or have been too busy to think it through.
This is an important element of our offering to employees. It helps bridge the gap between what salaries we can afford and candidates expectations. However, we have no equity plan in place at this stage and employees/candidates have to trust that we will implement one at a later stage.
We are developing or have recently developed an Employee Equity plan. Generally this is based on providing equity through options. We have agreed the employee equity pool with % to be given to current and future employees and details around vesting etc. The scheme will be or has been communicated to employees and candidates.
Most employees will have a % of Equity as part of their total compensation package. c.10% of Equity is reserved for Leadership & Employees. This helps us align employees to our strategy/culture and retain talent on a medium to long term basis. Future new employees may be assigned options based on role type/seniority as long as the pool can accommodate this.
Equity ownership is part of our integrated approach to building a great company. All employees and those who join in next 12-24m will receive options. An additional pot is in place to reward future high performers. The future value of equity is understood and relatable to the strategy and meeting milestones. Tax benefits of the scheme are maximised.
*
To what extent do you have candidate marketing materials which can be used to engage candidates?
(Required.)
We do not have any materials available for candidate attraction
We have a Website that outlines our products/history/ethos and maybe some initial use cases that candidates can look at.
We have created a company briefing document which reflect our values and vision which candidates and agencies can use in conjunction with Job Descriptions.
We have a basic Employer Value Proposition that is utilised in candidate marketing materials that aligns to our values and vision. We recognise that specific (hard to fill roles) or different locations may require different attraction materials and will tailor as required.
We have specific collateral for each role/location based on our EVP, this is integrated into our marketing and available on-line and in hard formats, it details company, brand, vision, values, purpose and testimonials from staff. It is a core part of the Candidate journey and sent automatically when any candidate applies for any role.
*
How does your organisation handle onboarding?
(Required.)
This is not a focus for us. We look to hire people that can onboard themselves!
We expect a hiring manager to take care of any new starters. Firstly to ensure that they have laptops, mobiles, access cards etc when they join and secondly to spend time on their first day explaining the organisation and how things work.
To ensure a consistent experience for all new starters, we have a check list established for onboarding people. This covers hardware/IT access being ordered in advance of joining, to a series of meetings with hiring manager to explain strategy, values, priorities and opportunities. A selection of other team members will also meet the new starter in the first few weeks to support their orientation.
We have undertaken a review of recent joiners and understood what works and hasn't been effective with our onboarding. Initiatives have been introduced to help get new starters integrated and productive as quickly as possible.
At offer stage, our and the candidate expectations about onboarding and first 6 months are discussed and understood. During any notice period prior to joining a high touch approach is taken to ensure the new starter feels 'wanted' and already part of the company. Upon joining, the joint expectations discussed at offer stage are reviewed and form part of the first 3-6 months goals.
*
Thinking about measuring team member's performance, which statement is most accurate?
(Required.)
No real measures in place. The Leadership team will talk about the performance of various team members, but there is no formal feedback loop.
We have said that leaders should meet with their team members to set goals/ review performance on a quarterly or bi-annual basis. We review people's performance as a Leadership Team and feedback is provided to individuals.
We have a clear process in place (which everyone follows) of objective setting and documenting regular reviews (monthly or quarterly) to review performance. Every 6 months, we review individual performance as a Leadership Team.
From the company strategy, our overall objectives and KPIs are cascaded to Teams and then to individuals to ensure performance criteria are fully aligned, reviews take place monthly.
We have a fully integrated performance management approach, aligned to Company strategy/KPIs and utilises feedback tools (eg. 360). The performance process drives reward, development and promotion actions.
*
Thinking about engaging with your team members, what best describes your current approach?
(Required.)
We have little in place apart from a few ad hoc all employee get togethers. Meetings with managers are solely 'task related'.
We ensure that we have a plan in place for regular 'all hands' meetings and regular 1;1s with managers. Team members feel they can ask or suggest anything.
Feedback from 1;1s and monthly All Hands meetings are reviewed by Leadership and actions are established to improvements concerns. Anonymous surveys track engagement levels.
Strategy and Values are at the heart of all engagement discussions. We actively seek input from team members to improve strategy, operations and solve customer problems. Pulse engagement surveys are used to get feedback on issues & opportunities.
Employee engagement is at the heart of everything we do and aligned to customer engagement, high performance, Well being and inclusion plans. Team members feel valued, part of the solution and the future path of the company.
*
How well structured is your Sales and Business Development
(Required.)
We have no structure around Business Development. Our team orientates to spending its time on refining our proposition / product. We recognise we have to address a new stakeholder (customer).
Business Development & Sales messaging falls under the remit of one of the founders. A high level approach and plan is in place before getting initial customers on board.
There is a defined process or set of core processes in place for Sales & Business Development. CRM is fundamental to tracking and assessing current sales effectiveness, in support of prospecting. A dedicated Sales & Business Development professional is now in place - who is accountable for defining a Sales & Business development strategy; budget and then acting on this (via sales and marketing activity).
An established approach to Sales & Business Development is in place. Sales, Marketing, Account and Customer Success functions are well defined and work together to provide a single view of the customer. Measures are in place to track all elements of success (or otherwise) with respect to Sales & Business Development; these are actively tracked by the leadership team.
Development plans are in place from a Sales & BD perspective, to ensure upskilling is constantly ongoing. Sales & Business Development professionals also look out of sector for interesting ideas and approaches to continue to drive revenue and customer loyalty. Peer reviews and retros are also in place, to ensure lessons learnt are happening.
Current Progress,
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