Growth Bootcamps: Going from nowhere to new growth

Is it really possible to conjure a new growth strategy in the span of a week?

Quick answer? No. At least, not in isolation. And if somebody says they can – well, good luck and we hope it works out.

However, when part of a wider strategic programme, a week can go a long way. It’s why a high-intensity, week-long workshop is such an important part of our growth bootcamps. It’s a crucible moment where months of prepwork come together to forge robust, viable growth propositions.

Having just completed just such a workshop for the third year running with one of Saudi Arabia’s largest digital services firms, this felt like an opportune moment to reflect on why we run growth bootcamps and what we’ve learned about them along the way.

We’ve embraced growth bootcamps because they enable our clients to achieve consistent results with something notoriously inconsistent: delivering net-new growth beyond their core business. In two years, our bootcamps have helped that digital services firm launch four new services and start developing 20 more.

How can they have such a high hit-rate and level of consistency?

We’d be tempted to say ‘25 years of trial and error’ but to be less glib, the answer is that over time, we have progressively sharpened the strategy and methodology of our bootcamps to be extremely focused and efficient. They are tuned to identify and solve an organisation’s most pressing needs, by fostering an environment which catalyses existing internal knowledge with outside perspectives.

We call the programmes ‘growth bootcamps’ rather than innovation workshops because they are grounded in measurable outcomes rather than abstract goals. The week workshop serves as the testbed portion of the bootcamp, where the aim is to generate and stress-test a diverse range of growth propositions that ordinarily would not be on the table. 

Ater 25 years of running them, our growth bootcamps have come to stand out a little from the workshop crowd. Here’s a few ways we do things a bit differently:

1. Our experts roll their sleeves up

While other workshops are liable to bring in the first talking heads that popped up on LinkedIn search, we take the time to find industry experts with multi-disciplinary experience and a proven history of breaking boundaries. Those locked into industry paradigms can’t help you break out of them.

Our experts aren’t just there to deliver a PowerPoint and catch the first taxi home either – they work as active participants in ideation sessions throughout the week, driving the process forward and supercharging discussions with practical detail and know-how.

2. We cause intentional collisions

Diversity of thought and experience is crucial when it comes to finding novel ‘ways in’ to markets or approaches to problems. That’s why we build in the widest possible range of views into the bootcamp – then force them to crash into each other.

From curated team compositions to scheduled ‘cross-fertilisation’ checkpoint sessions, baking in diverse perspectives yields reliably robust propositions. For example, specialists in catering may have views or insights on aviation that can completely unlock an issue. While the specifics are unpredictable, the pattern always reveals itself.

3. We don’t run them in outer space

Creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Having the right stimulus in (or out of) the room can make all the difference. It’s why we conduct research in advance to create discussion prompts. Bring in inspirational and reference materials. Plan cultural field trips. Choose venues suited for collaboration. Book experts who see things differently. Ensure we have 10,000 Post-It notes in reserve.

All these things help to disrupt familiar routines and patterns of thought. Novelty and new information is the fuel of fresh thinking. Advance preparation matters so much to the end result because it is the oxygen for the process – making a difference long before any markers hit whiteboards.

4. We think execution eats ideation

Any programme targeting growth needs to clarify and codify organisational context, team challenges, customer pain points, and what KPIs should be measured. These can all then be used to create the decision-making frameworks by which growth ideas will be judged – so long as they can survive the TAM, SAM and SOM test first.

Our bootcamps are a means of going to market. They are explicitly designed to go beyond ideation and take the next steps on the path to implementation, including aftercare to keep momentum once the workshop is over. After all, growth isn’t growth until someone buys it.

5. You face the final boss in round one

Who better to ensure that ideas receive approval and turn into serious projects than the ones making the decisions? We like to incorporate decision-makers and budget holders directly into our growth bootcamps so that they can witness and be involved in the creation process – providing guidance where necessary.

Participants leave our growth bootcamp workshops with initial pitches tested in real-world conditions honed against each other, different teams, and even against those who will eventually be making the call on whether to greenlight or not.

OK, that’s enough talking ourselves up.

And it’s probably enough trade secrets for one article.

Even though it is notoriously elusive, seeking diverse perspectives and harnessing creativity is a potent route to finding opportunities for net-new growth – you just need to be able to pin it down.

Sooner or later, all businesses will run into circular thinking without injections of fresh thinking, especially when internal teams become too focused on growing their core business. Potential growth opportunities very often go untapped without outside intervention.

We like to think we’ve gotten pretty good at doing just that. If you’re curious about how we run our growth bootcamps, or are interested in booking one for you and your team, or just want to tell us about the nice day you had – you can get in touch with us using the button below.