Preparing HUNGRY for Growth

PROJECT 1: Marketing Strategies Current State Analysis

SYNOPSIS

HUNGRY is a quickly growing marketplace that needs help planning for the road ahead. The company has been working towards a 10M Series A fundraising round that they plan to close by January 1st, 2018. Shy, the company’s CEO and a seasoned entrepreneur, needs help preparing for this endeavor. In addition to industry due diligence and advising on the fundraising strategy, Shy is looking for your help in thinking through a marketing plan for a major geographical expansion of the business, an analysis of the organizational structure, operations & talent management and suggestions for existing product enhancements & future product development.

PROJECT PROCESS

Part 1: Understand the business model and marketing structure of HUNGRY.

• Examine HUNGRY’s past marketing strategies. What worked? What did not?
• What about social media? How has the company leveraged these challenges?
• Conduct structured customer interviews to gain a better understanding of customer perception, preferences, purchasing habits, and decision-making process.

Milestone Deliverable – Due on September 30th: Provide HUNGRY with a report highlighting customer interview data, the current state of their marketing plan and any beneficial information the team was able to gather to fully understand HUNGRY’s marketing strategy. Be sure to include information about HUNGRY’s social media, current practices, marketing channels that are currently used and any other useful information regarding the current state of marketing at HUNGRY. Part 2: Create a sample digital marketing campaign. Leverage insights from MBA Consulting Project last semester and think about HUNGRY’s growth plan into new cities given their existing traction in DC. Create a sample digital marketing campaign based on this growth strategy. As you work through the deliverable, think through:

• What medium(s) will you use? How will you A/B test it?
• What resources are required?
• What’s the budget?
• How many weeks will it take to implement?
• Estimate the reach and impact of your campaign. How will you measure its effectiveness?
• How many people do you need to target?
• How many of these targets will you expect to convert?
• How many do you expect to retain month over month?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on October 31st: Sample Digital Marketing Campaign

PROJECT 2: Preparing HUNGRY as an Organization for Growth Into New Cities

SYNOPSIS

HUNGRY is a quickly growing marketplace that needs help planning for the road ahead. The company has been working towards a 10M Series A fundraising round that they plan to close by January 1st, 2018. Shy, the company’s CEO and a seasoned entrepreneur, needs help preparing for this endeavor. In addition to industry due diligence and advising on the fundraising strategy, Shy is looking for your help in thinking through the organizational structure, operations and talent management for a geographical expansion of the business. In terms of growth, the company is poised to replicate their success in other cities. They’re looking for help in ensuring the organization is prepared as they expand.

PROJECT PROCESS

Part 1: Organizational Structure Analysis

• How has HUNGRY’s org structure evolved to where it is today?
• What growing pains have they had?
• Map HUNGRY’s current organizational structure. What is the hierarchical layout and is this an effective layout for a growing organization?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on September 30th:

• Provide a report identifying the current state of HUNGRY’s organizational structure and how they got there.
• Visual representation of current structure and layout
• Analysis of current organizational structure effectiveness

Part 2: Survey Employees Create a survey for a few existing employees to measure company culture and organizational effectiveness.

• What are their favorite and least favorite parts of the culture?
  • Benefits/Perks
  • Work space
  • Coworkers etc…
• What suggestions do you have for the team in terms of maintaining that culture as they scale?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on October 16th: Provide a report of survey results and how they relate to the current state analysis done for Deliverable 1. Part 3: Analyzing Industry and Best Practices for Company Expansion Perform a industry research analysis to define best practices when expanding a company into new areas and geographical locations. Help HUNGRY determine what approach should be taken and what should be considered throughout the process.

• What problems do organizations tend to face as they expand in size and location?
• How should they plan to face these challenges?
• What types of software and platforms exist to help organizations scale?
• What types of communication & collaboration tools should be considered?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on October 31st:

• Provide a research analysis for industry best practices during expansion
• Present HUNGRY with an expansion guide highlighting potential tools, risks, benefits, costs and challenges to consider while they implement their expansion efforts

Part 4: Talent Management Strategy Evaluate HUNGRY’s future growth strategy and help HUNGRY determine a Talent Management plan as they look to expand, across all stakeholders.

• What roles and positions are the most critical for them to hire for next?
• How are they attracting / vetting talent?
• What are they doing to market their brand to candidates?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on October 31st: Provide HUNGRY with a Talent Management strategy which will assist them as they expand into new markets. Highlight the various roles across stakeholders and a standard processes for candidate outreach and vetting.

PROJECT 3: Preparing HUNGRY’s Product for Expansion

SYNOPSIS

HUNGRY is a quickly growing marketplace that needs help planning for the road ahead. The company has been working towards a 10M Series A fundraising round that they plan to close by January 1st, 2018. Shy, the company’s CEO and a seasoned entrepreneur, needs help preparing for this endeavor. In addition to industry due diligence and advising on the fundraising strategy, Shy is looking for your help in thinking through the product, future development and potential improvements as HUNGRY expands the business. In terms of growth, the company is poised to replicate their success in other cities. They’re looking for help in ensuring the product is prepared as they expand.

PROJECT PROCESS

Part 1: Business Model Analysis Research HUNGRY’s original business model, grasp an understanding of how it has changed from the company’s founding.

• Why did they decide to pivot?
• Do you agree with the new strategy? Why or why not?
• Determine what makes HUNGRY unique, how are they different from their competitors?
• What are HUNGRY’s strengths and weaknesses?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on September 18th: Present HUNGRY with a report detailing the business model and its evolution. In addition, complete a Business Model Canvas and perform a SWOT analysis to complement the report detailing the topics above. Part 2: Product Analysis Analyze HUNGRY’s product offerings and gain a deep understanding of how the product plays into the overall business model.

• How is the HUNGRY product currently set up?
• What are the major features and processes built into the current product?
• How do customers feel about the user experience and interface?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on September 29th: Complete a detailed report which outlines HUNGRY’s product offerings and provide an analysis of each, based on your understanding of the HUNGRY Business Model. Part 3: Future Product Roadmap Now that you have a deep understanding of the product, think about the future offerings for the organization as HUNGRY grows. What should the company be focused on from a product standpoint? Feel free to leverage insights from the other teams!

• How does HUNGRY’s product need to evolve when entering new markets?
• What features are the most critical that need to be developed or adapted to accommodate demands of a multi-city approach?
• How can HUNGRY make it easier for prospects (potential customers) to try out their current service?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on November 1st: Present a future product road map which details the journey of a product in the current state and potential future products based on HUNGRY’s goals and objectives as they expand. The deliverable should help HUNGRY understand what to be focused on from a product standpoint.