Only 40% of Series A startups with product-market fit will raise a Series B. But why? Most startups at this stage fail due to unclear strategies and unfocused execution. Achieving growth goals requires executive and team buy-in, and alignment around vision, mission, strategy, plans and KPIs.
Join NextStep Co-Founders Ha Nguyen (Wharton) and Garrett Kelly in the #CPOSeries to learn:
- Tips and tools to align your startup around the strategic planning process
- How to set impactful goals
- How to craft roadmaps to maximize team alignment and outcome-driven execution
About Ha Nguyen
Ha Nguyen is an experienced startup advisor and executive with 22 years of deep expertise in fundraising, building and scaling startups, design-thinking, and creating products that customers love. She is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Next Step, a startup advisory and consulting practice that helps founders and startup leaders with strategy and planning, operational excellence, and people-first leadership. Previously, she was the Chief Experiences Officer at Swimply and a Founding Partner of Spero Ventures. Ha started her early tech career as a PM at eBay when it was a 120-person startup. She received her MBA from Harvard and BS in Economics from the Wharton School (UPenn).
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanguyen-spero/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pokergirlha/
Website: https://pokergirl.co
About Garrett Kelly
Garrett Kelly is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Next Step, a startup advisory and consulting practice that helps founders and startup leaders with strategy and planning, operational excellence, and people-first leadership to achieve sustained growth and positive outcomes. Garrett specializes in strategy, business and support operations, people, and risk mitigation. At Swimply he led Customer Support, Trust and Safety, Insurance and was responsible for establishing OKRs and KPIs, core values, and prioritization frameworks. At AirBnB, Garrett led a 500+ Safety team’s product, process, and people strategies while managing the most urgent and sensitive community issues imaginable.
About NextStep
NextStep is a startup advisory and consulting firm for early stage founders and executives. NextStep has decades of strategic and operational experience in business strategy, product, business operations, and people, including hands-on experience working at eBay and Airbnb as they scaled from early market entrants to successful IPOs. We help early stage founders and executives take the NextStep toward:
- Developing a strategy that clarifies the path to long-term sustainable success
- Aligning teams and resources through operational discipline and process efficiency
- Identification of and effective mitigation against current and future risks
- Implementing a leadership philosophy and people-first culture that recruits and nurtures top talent
About WAFFA
The Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (WAFFA) is on a mission to accelerate the success of Wharton and Penn alumnae in the start-up world – founders, investors and supporters. WAFFA is one of the fastest-growing clubs at the University, with over 5,400 members in just three years.
Women-led businesses have been largely overlooked by the investment community. We launched WAFFA when we discovered that only 13% of University of Pennsylvania founders are women and they raise just 6% of venture dollars. WAFFA harnesses the power of our network to educate, support, and foster connections for alumnae in the start-up community. We want to build an eco-system that fosters growth for women and accelerates our access to confidence and capital.