78. Opportunity Management
How a podcast interview opened the door to LITTA
Two months into launching The Growth Lab, I was presented with an outsized opportunity.
I’d just finished interviewing Avin Rahberu MBE, Housekeep’s CEO, for The Growth Lab podcast.
We talked afterwards when Avin asked whether I would consider working with Housekeep. He wanted to develop their B2B proposition.
I said of course.
This is why I started the podcast - to access opportunities like this.
We scheduled a follow-up call a couple of weeks after recording the podcast. To prepare for the call, I outlined a business development plan.
I recorded this explainer video (which is way too long; it should have been < 1 minute) and emailed both to Avin.
The call went well. Afterwards, Avin introduced me to his chief of staff, Geoff, to continue the conversation.
Geoff and I had a call the following week, and this opportunity was beginning to take off.
We fleshed out my business development plan, and after a couple of weeks of tweaks, it was finalised and ready to present.
This is the growth plan I presented to Avin.
The final decision rested with the board, due to meet in June.
I waited anxiously.
Opportunity Management
Why am I telling you this story?
It was the first chance I got to practice Opportunity Management.
A year earlier, I’d read this blog post introducing me to Opportunity Management.
I liked it so much I created a YouTube video about the concept.
As defined in Ryan’s blog post:
“Opportunity Management is a system for evaluating, selecting and prioritising opportunities that require spending time, financial or other resources.“
It helps you achieve your important goals in the most direct manner possible.
Opportunity Management is the decision-making process about what you spend time working on.
My decision-making process for pursuing the Housekeep opportunity came down to two questions:
Will it take me close to achieving my goal?
My goal for The Growth Lab was to work with mid-market cleaning + FM businesses. Big enough that they had a sales function other than the business owner but not so big that they had a ten-person plus sales team.
Housekeep are a £40m+ revenue business with little B2B exposure. Helping them build a B2B function would have made a great case study and provided valuable experience.
In short, I would have taken a big step towards achieving my goal. It was an opportunity worth saying yes to.
Was this opportunity more important than my other priorities?
As with any new business, you focus on getting new clients to confirm your idea.
Starting The Growth Lab was no different. I signed my first client shortly after recording the interview with Avin. But, working with Housekeep presented an outsized opportunity.
One where I was prepared to put all my eggs into one basket.
Housekeep is a tech platform business run by a former VC. This type of exposure would give me the chance to build new connections, learn how a business scaling to £100m ARR operates, and open other doors.
As a result, I focused a lot of my time on nurturing the opportunity.
It meant going the extra mile. That’s why:
I spent some hours writing the business development outline before the first call.
I spent a few days researching and preparing this business development plan.
I wasn’t asked to, but I wanted to maximise the opportunity. Doing so allowed me to frame and manage the later conversations and showcase my experience.
In the end, things didn’t work out with Housekeep. The board decided that a B2B strategy wasn’t in their immediate plans.
Although I was disappointed, the experience (and connection to Avin) served me well. A few weeks later, a second opportunity presented itself.
That’s when my journey started with LITTA.
Thanks for reading!
Matt @ The Growth Lab
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