Abraca's Wild Growth Model® is a strategy framework based on mimicking natural growth mechanisms. Organisations are referred to as living organisms, to create a holistic approach where each section is interlinked in order to align them together and understand how they can support each other. This model is designed to harness the whole ecosystem around the company to support its growth.

The model consists of four modules: Core, Activators, Organisation and Business Environment. All parts can be connected to Abraca’s management tools and processes to efficiently implement the strategy work. We hope this model helps leaders successfully take their business on a healthy purpose driven growth path both sustainably and scalably.

Core
The seed

Ensuring a healthy core with the “5D” growth logic inspired by the growth potential of a seed. We expand the idea of linear growth to five dimensions: central focus point, two vertical growth dimensions as well as two horizontal growth dimensions.

Purpose [Centre]

Wild growth stems from standing still: Aligning every function with the company Purpose and “DNA”, enables systematic long-term value creation. Identifying the business with its unchangeable part (instead of the current product for example) makes it possible to stay agile on changing markets. From a strong centre, the growth can spread to all four directions just like a tree does: growing up, rooting down, expanding left and right.

Vision [Growing up]

A tiny seed of a tree already contains the information of the full sized tree. With the same logic, understanding the central DNA of our business helps us next envision the full potential and size of this business.

Expertise [Rooting down]

Every tree needs roots to grow tall. In the business world, this “downwards growth” is often left with little attention. By focusing on actively increasing the company’s asset value and developing the right experience, we can significantly improve the valuation and long-term viability. In this section we crystallise the story and expertise of the business. What is the qualitative and quantitative level of current expertise and what do we still need to develop to get more depth and stability for the business?

Values [Expanding left]

A strong culture helps the business spread wider by making it attractive to relevant stakeholders. Defining values from the perspective of internal culture, clients and company brand, enables creating a “charismatic” business that can grow without becoming too dependent on its leaders’ personalities.

Value propositions [Expanding right]

A tree expands its branches towards the seed spreaders that help it grow further. Understanding how we serve our target client will help us crystallise the added value that creates loyal relationships. We define the main value propositions to later make sure that our communication as well as every product and service is integrated to these.

*Just like a seed of a pine tree already knows what it will become, the natural growth potential of your business is already encoded in it, just waiting to be unleashed*

Activators
Light, Air, Water, Soil

Mastering the maintenance of a healthy business includes Growth goals (light), Development Pillars (ground), Metrics (water) and Impact (air). Through optimising these activators, businesses can unlock effortless and organic growth.

Growth goals [Light]

Bright goals do the same work as the sunlight does for a plant: Boosting growth towards the vision and giving a clear direction the whole organisation. In this section we break the big vision down into yearly goals, enabling a cyclical nature for the business. Just like the amount of light changes throughout the year, managing the business based on long-term goals instead of reactive needs enables planning and adjusting the work load more smartly.

Implementation [Soil]

Implementing and maintaining the operative corner stones on a stable level supports growth like steady soil. It’s easy to reach towards the goals when the core elements from brand to product and sales to client management support it. Breaking the business into tangible implementation areas, such as the ones named above, can reduce the stress on the leaders’ shoulders and help minimise the need for reactivity and reorganising. Even the biggest goals become doable and the most boring operative tasks start feeling meaningful for the whole team when they are broken into tangible pieces and aligned with the big vision.

Metrics [Water]

Water is needed to keep the soil fertile. And just like a plant, a business needs just a right amount or that: Not too little, not too much. That’s why we approach the main metrics through defining boundaries for keeping the business healthy. There’s a saying that “energy flows where attention goes” which is true for businesses as well. Measuring the right metrics will nourish the business like fresh water. We have seen businesses take fast growth sprints after defining and systematically measuring the most relevant business health indicators. It’s important to not just analyse data but to create clear targets to follow.

Impact [Air]

No business is independent from its environment. Just like a tree takes CO2 from the air and turns it into oxygen, a business is constantly interacting with its surroundings. A vital business turns challenges into solutions with mutual benefit between stakeholders. The more relevant and positively impactful the relationship is, the more profound position the business will gain on the market. The first step is understanding how each main stakeholder group impacts our business and how our business impacts them.

*Nothing in nature is separate. The same applies to the business world. We need to surround ourselves with the right growth conditions.*

Organisation
Organism

In this section we align operative actions from roots to leaves. Making sure that every part of the business is equally strong and again, supporting the earlier defined core and goals. The internal parts of the organisation from back-end to front-end, referred to a natural organism include:

Resources [Roots]

Where does the business get its energy to fuel the operations? A clear consensus on how to harness financial and human resources allows the flow of energy to all departments of the business. Deciding how financial and human resources should be allocated helps in maintaining a balanced budget and working culture.

Governance [Trunk]

A systematic governance structure is like a strong trunk for the business - keeping it stable throughout different conditions. Imagine how much even a small team could accomplish if no one’s time was spent on overlapping tasks. Clear areas of responsibility don’t mean working in isolated silos but rather having a limited responsibility to keep track of. Responsible persons get to ensure that tasks within their area are handled successfully and on time, either by themselves or with the help of teammates. The more easily each area’s success can be monitored, the less reactive the work becomes.

Touchpoints [Branches]

By identifying where people can encounter the business, it’s possible to ensure that the same clear brand personality meets them across all channels. It’s essential that the company’s message leaves a unified impression on clients, regardless of where they see it first. In this section, we also like to divide the touchpoints based on their main tasks from traffic to engagement and purchase to retention. Having the right amount of touchpoints serving the right needs creates a balanced whole.

Branding and communications [Leaves]

A tree interacts with its surroundings through the leaves. Identifying clear keywords based on the core of the business for both linguistic and visual communication will help create the charismatic brand. According to brand specialists, a strong brand can save the business when the market goes down. Understanding the brand’s own personality as well as who to interact with is essential to create strong long-term engagement and relationships.

Marketing and sales [Flowers]

Flowers attract pollinators so that a tree can create its fruits. In the same way, a good marketing and sales strategy comes before selling the product. It is literally fruitful to create products for an existing demand. We have created an “attraction flower” framework to define the four core parts of a successful marketing: Interest, value, engagement and conversion are the four petals around client attraction. Through these we want to make sure that our marketing and sales actions already serve and inspire the potential customers, awakening the desire to purchase and leading into a committed relationship.

Offering [Fruits]

Imagine the scalability of an apple tree that is able to feed all its fruits to right seed spreaders who take all of the seeds inside them into a new fertile soil. This is the ultimate goal we’re targeting through making sure that the offering is connected with an existing demand and that the product portfolio is built in a way that different products support each other. We like to divide the offering into door-opener, upsell, retention and engagement products. When the product portfolio is divided into clear categories, it becomes easy to match the right products with the right customers at the right time.

Scaling [Seeds]

Getting every seed from every fruit to sprout would lead to tremendous organic scalability. Many companies lack scalable models for their production, sales and team, and thus the seeds fail to spread. This means the company always has to use its own resources for new growth, leaving fast and profitable growth as an unfulfilled dream. Let’s fix that through designing how to help different functions scale organically: From attracting and engaging customers them as well as scaling the production and team, we aim to automatise everything that helps unleash the organic growth.

Understanding a business as a whole can be the missing link to create alignment between stakeholders. A tree needs its roots as much as it needs its leaves and trying to separate them in siloes is impossible.

Business Environment
Ecosystem

To spread wider to new areas, all species need support from the external ecosystem. The same applies for a business. In this section we make sure that it is surrounded by the right type of stakeholders. We finish the holistic business design by mapping out the suitable market areas, how to reach symbiotic partners and target groups in them and make sure to stay resilient to competition.

Target group [Seed spreaders]

Who are the most potential customers attracted to your products, “fruits”, to work as the seed spreaders? When we understand the natural target group for our offering, we can synchronise our business with them and for them. Defining the target group characteristics and understanding how they can be met, what makes them to purchase as well as come back allows you to be where this group likes to spend their time and focus on them instead of trying to please everyone.

Differentiators [Competitors]

Competition is a natural state in a healthy ecosystem. Yet, staying in a competitive mindset will take the focus away from genuinely serving the purpose. That is why we take an inner approach on competition: Starting from own differentiatiors and then comparing them to competitors helps the business maintain stability even on volatile markets. This creates a much more self-sufficient state than chasing other’s clients and ideas.

Partnerships [Symbiotic relationships]

The nature is full of symbiotic relationships - nourishing connections of mutual benefit. What are the organisations that would gain from the same clients, markets or partners as your business, without a competitive status? A business can save a lot of marketing budget and other resources by forming strong relationships with like minded partners who have shared interests, values and complementing products or business models.

Markets [Suitable habitats]

You wouldn’t try to plant a palm tree in the cold north. Just like plants have suitable habitats, businesses too naturally thrive on certain markets. Through understanding what characterises the optimal markets and how to get there, we can maximise the external growth support. Defining market entry steps and how to measure them as well as choosing the most suitable markets to approach is a valuable step before investing in trials and errors. The better you understand the characteristics of suitable markets and how big business potential you have on them, the smarter investments you can raise and make to reach them.