How to Master Product Portfolio Management and Strengthen Product-Led Growth
Hi, product leaders and fintech enthusiasts = ). Today we are going to Master Product Portfolio Management and product Led Growth Strategies, and read about the key trends of Fintech in Latin America
Aligning your Product Portfolio with your OKRs
“A company should have a portfolio of products with different growth rates and different market shares. The portfolio composition is a function of the balance between cash flows.… Margins and cash generated are a function of market share.”
—Bruce Henderson, BCG Founder, “The Product Portfolio,” 1970
More than 40 years after Bruce Henderson built and made incredibly popular BCG’s growth-share matrix. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it was most popular, about half of the biggest 500 companies in the U.S. used the growth-share matrix or similar methods.
Today, we will explore how to effectively manage your product portfolio using the Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) matrix approach. This strategy can help drive your company's growth and ensure financial stability.
?? Understanding the Portfolio Matrix
Let's explore the effective management of your product portfolio using the BCG matrix approach, a key strategy for driving growth and ensuring financial stability.
?The BCG matrix categorizes products into four groups based on market share and growth rate: Stars, Question Marks, Cash Cows, and Dogs (Pets).
?? Stars (High Market Share, High Growth): Market leaders in rapidly growing industries. While generating substantial revenue, they often require significant investment to maintain their position. The goal is to sustain them until they become Cash Cows.
? Question Marks (Low Market Share, High Growth): Products in growing markets but with low market share. They require significant investment to increase market share. The key decision is whether to invest heavily to turn them into Stars or to divest.
?? Cash Cows (High Market Share, Low Growth): Your most valuable assets. With high market share in mature, slow-growing markets, they generate more cash than they consume. This excess cash should support Stars and Question Marks.
?? Dogs (Pets) (Low Market Share, Low Growth): Products with low market share in unattractive, low-growth markets. Typically, they break even, not generating enough cash for further investment. Consider divesting these products.
?? Strategic Implications:
?? Execution: Implementing this approach requires:
Success Sequence
In a success sequence, stars generate cash and over time they will turn into cash cows. Cash cows have low growth but high market share and as such generate large cash flows to be invested in question marks, to turn them in stars, that over time will become cash cows, and trigger again this positive loop
Disaster Sequence
Disaster occurs when a product goes from being a reliable money-maker ("cash cow") to a popular, fast-growing item ("star") because of competition, and then ends up not doing well and becomes uncertain and risky ("question mark"). In this situation, the money made is often spent badly, either by putting too much money from the reliable products into ones that will fail ("dogs"), or by investing too much from the popular products into risky ones that also end up failing.
Adapting the BCG Matrix for Modern Business Strategies
“We keep speed in mind with each new product we release…. And we continue to work on making it all go even faster…. We’re always looking for new places where we can make a difference.” - Google's Company Philosophy
1970s, the business landscape has dramatically changed, leading to new ways companies manage their product portfolios. The BCG Matrix still matters, but now it needs to be used more dynamically and experimentally due to the fast and unpredictable nature of today's market.
Key Changes and Modern Adaptations:
?? Speed and Flexibility: Quick review and change are more important than ever. Companies should speed up their strategic processes, with shorter planning times and faster decision-making.
?? Strategic Experimentation: Businesses should focus on trying out new strategies. This means investing in more 'question marks' (products with uncertain futures), testing them quickly and cheaply, and deciding fast based on how they perform.
?? Redefining Metrics: The old way of using market share to measure success needs updating. New measures that fit today's market are needed.
?? Organizational Integration: The BCG Matrix should be a core part of how an organization works, helping in strategic experiments and decisions.
?? Google's Example: Google shows how to use this modern approach. They have a mix of mature products, fast-growing ones, and new ideas. They try out many new ideas ('question marks'), test a few thoroughly, and grow them based on data and early tests.
Practical Imperatives for BCG Matrix 2.0:
? Accelerated Evaluation: It's important to check the product mix often. Simplified steps for investing and pulling out are needed to keep up with the quickly changing market.
?? Balancing Exploration and Exploitation: Companies should find the right balance between trying new 'question marks' and making the most of 'cash cows' and 'pets'. This means using resources well and getting value from less successful products.
?? Selective Investment and Divestment: It's crucial to carefully choose where to invest and where to cut losses. Using a lot of data and predictive analytics helps make these choices.
?? Managing Experimentation Economics: Knowing and controlling the amount and cost of experimentation is key for ongoing growth. This includes making sure 'question marks' have a good chance of becoming 'stars' and keeping a balanced mix for long-term profit.
In summary, while the main ideas of the BCG Matrix are still useful, modern businesses need to update how they use it to succeed in today's fast-moving market. This means quicker decisions, more experimentation, updated measurements, and making it a part of how the organization works.
Key Changes and Modern Adaptations:
?? Speed and Flexibility: Quick review and change are more important than ever. Companies should speed up their strategic processes, with shorter planning times and faster decision-making.
?? Strategic Experimentation: Businesses should focus on trying out new strategies. This means investing in more 'question marks' (products with uncertain futures), testing them quickly and cheaply, and deciding fast based on how they perform.
?? Redefining Metrics: The old way of using market share to measure success needs updating. New measures that fit today's market are needed.
?? Organizational Integration: The BCG Matrix should be a core part of how an organization works, helping in strategic experiments and decisions.
?? Google's Example: Google shows how to use this modern approach. They have a mix of mature products, fast-growing ones, and new ideas. They try out many new ideas ('question marks'), test a few thoroughly, and grow them based on data and early tests.
Practical Imperatives for BCG Matrix 2.0:
? Accelerated Evaluation: It's important to check the product mix often. Simplified steps for investing and pulling out are needed to keep up with the quickly changing market.
?? Balancing Exploration and Exploitation: Companies should find the right balance between trying new 'question marks' and making the most of 'cash cows' and 'pets'. This means using resources well and getting value from less successful products.
?? Selective Investment and Divestment: It's crucial to carefully choose where to invest and where to cut losses. Using a lot of data and predictive analytics helps make these choices.
?? Managing Experimentation Economics: Knowing and controlling the amount and cost of experimentation is key for ongoing growth. This includes making sure 'question marks' have a good chance of becoming 'stars' and keeping a balanced mix for long-term profit.
In summary, while the main ideas of the BCG Matrix are still useful, modern businesses need to update how they use it to succeed in today's fast-moving market. This means quicker decisions, more experimentation, updated measurements, and making it a part of how the organization works.
Product Led Growth: Strategies for Self-Selling Your Product
One of the biggest topics at the moment and which I believe will be super important in 2024 is monetization and product-led growth (PLG).
For those out of the loop, PLG is a business growth strategy that places the product as the main driver of customer acquisition, retention, and expansion.
With this strategy, companies focus their efforts on building excellent products, with a great user experience, which will naturally attract customers and generate value in itself.
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Self-Selling Product
When it comes to monetization, the focus should be on having a product that can sell itself, which can be achieved by providing users with an extremely valuable experience that allows them to derive value for themselves.
When a product sells itself, users begin to desire this product more and more, with a willingness to go from freemium to premium and pay for it. This creates a cycle in which the company's growth is driven by the product itself and not by marketing or other forms.
So-called self-service apps, such as Slack, Zendesk and Dropbox, are common examples of product-led monetization.
But to facilitate the process and achieve the goal of having a product that sells itself, it is important to minimize any friction in the user experience, ensuring a smooth and seamless transition to the monetization stage.
As Wes Bush, CEO of ProductLed, points out in his appearance on Melissa Perri's podcast:
“If you give people a super valuable experience, if they're able to get the value on their own, the next step that often happens in a lot of these self-serve apps is "I love it, I want more of it, then I'm going to upgrade”.
Solve one problem at a time until your users love your product
The strategy for advancing in PLG is knowing how to solve one problem at a time, starting with the simplest and moving on to the more complex. Thinking about the basics like “who is my customer?” or “what final experience do I want him to have?”
Freemium is the most common strategy to create interest in a product: give part of your service or some features for free. For example, if I have a video service, how many minutes will I give for free access so that my client can test and understand the advantages of my product?
Solving these initial problems doesn't really bring value, but brings the customer to the test and helps you refine the product and iterate fast. You shouldn't charge for solving standard problems/free samples that don't add much value.
The second stage is when you solve bigger problems. This is when you start to advance your product: if people are liking it, if they are using it to its full potential, naturally understanding how it works.
Time to start monetizing: the moment when your customer is already using the product and their interest is only in using it more and more.
No entry barrier
"By encouraging users to engage with your product as quickly and effectively as possible, you can facilitate adoption and drive sustainable growth." - Wes Bush?
Let's use an example product, Zoom. Everyone knows this video platform, I don't need an advertisement or a sales team to call me to send me an access code or introduce me to the product.
If you like it, you can register quickly, create a host for a meeting and that's it! If you want more features, you purchase a paid plan and expand your options.
I agree with what Hila Qu said on Lenny Rachitsky's podcast: “Great PLG products should have a very low barrier to entry”.
Greatness is allowing anyone to access your product without needing approvals or codes or complications. It 's simply UX/UI. And if your product is good, if it solves needs, it will spread, and interest in upgrading and paying for it will be created.
Common Mistakes
Despite everything we've said so far, it's common to think that the PLG strategy requires the customer experience to be 100% self-service from the beginning.
You can create a plan to introduce the product, assemble a team to focus on potential customers to let them know about your product.
Remember that the main idea behind a product-led strategy is to make it easy for potential customers to recognize the value of your product with minimal obstacles.
Also, don't get caught up in the idea of offering free trials or early adopter access as the only way to implement your product. The key is to emphasize quickly demonstrating your product’s value to users.
References:
Top Fintech Bites and Insights
??Nubank launches Cuenta Nu in Colombia, after the country's regulator granted authorization last week. I commented more here.
??Argentine fintech Pomelo Raises US$40M in a Series B round led by KASZEK, to scale its payments infra business in LatAm. See more here about the news.
?? Brazilian startup Lina secures US$ 1.6M investment for developing new Open Insurance products.
?? Visa announced it has completed its acquisition of Pismo, a global cloud-native issuer processing and core banking platform.
?? Throughout 2023, Brazilian startups raised US$1.9 billion in 455 investment rounds, according to the Distrito platform. The value corresponds to 61.2% of the total invested in Latin America in the same period.
?? Brazilian fintech iCred bets on what it calls a network of “autonomous credit agents” to grow in guaranteed personal loan modalities.
?? English fintech Ebury, controlled by Santander, is betting on the Brazilian market to create a bank focused on international payments made by companies, called Ebury Bank. The goal is to double the number of exchange operations by 2024.
?? Brazilian fintech Zapay give up operating as a payment institution in the payment transaction initiator mode less than two months after receiving authorization from the Central Bank.
?? Nubank's shares surpassed their IPO price two years after their debut on the stock exchange, returning to a value of more than US$9. Furthermore, with shares rising by more than 150% in 2023, Nubank became the fifth largest company of Brazil, with a market value of US$42 billion.
?? Nu Mexico announced the integration of Dimo, the new transfer platform of Banco de México, to simplify digital transactions.
?? Nu México launches functionality for customers to receive money from the US, with a strategic alliance with Felix Pago.
?? Startup Finbra secures US$ 2.3M financing line to continue supporting SMEs in Mexico.
???? Spanish PayRetailers expands leadership team in Brazil.
?? RappiPay exceeds 230K clients in 2023, aiming for US$ 257M in balances by 2024 in Colombia.
?? Ualá México emerges as the fastest-growing fintech in the country, adding over 140k new clients in December 2023.
?? Bineo, the digital bank of Banorte, has entered the market of digital banking in Mexico, commencing operations with savings accounts and loan services.
?? Uruguayan startup Prometeo OpenBanking raises US$ 13M from PayPal, Samsung Electronics and more to bring open banking to LatAm.
?? KLog.co, the international cargo transportation platform in Latam, and Xepelin, the Mexican SaaS platform for SMEs in Latam, announced a partnership to optimize imports’ financing in Chile.
?? Mexican data verification platform Palenca announced a new product that allows income verification through digital work portfolios. The company plans to include data from MEIs and catalog resellers, providing solutions for Brazilian workers.
?? The Commission for the Financial Market, the Chilean regulatory agency, announced a new consulting process to implement the Fintech Law.
?? Uruguayan collective funds startup Crowder was approved by Uruguay’s Central Bank as a crowdfunding platform.
?? Fintechs and cryptocurrency companies around the world were fined US$5.8 billion, according to data from software company Fenergo, for failures in money laundering and customer verification (KYC) controls, among other reasons.
Insights
How long will cash dominate in Mexico?
In Mexico, the difference between the Internet adoption rate and the banking sector adoption rate has been greater than in other Latin American countries.
That was all! ???
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Un abrazo,
Edu