Does anyone have a great operating summary example to share?

Anonymous

December 23rd, 2014

Looking for examples of what other companies feel is most important to include in their respective operating summaries. I want to better understand how to structure our most pertinent information to our executive team so they actually take the time to review it because they aren't getting overwhelmed by too many numbers or too much information.

JC Duarte Co-founder & COO @ Distribu.td

December 26th, 2014

Hi Amber,

Across industries & company growth stage, I've always found the best solution to be a One Page Plan that incorporates

next / current Quarter Top 3-5 priorities & the (no more than) 5 top-line KPI's they'll drive
annual Top 3-5 priorities & the (no more than) 5 top-line KPI's they'll drive
18m - 3y Top 3-5 priorities & the (no more than) 5 top-line KPI's they'll drive
from a DOS (simplified SWOT) exercise the top 5 opportunities to exceed plan and dangers to impede plan

If you private message me I can send you a template with sample data. I've used this for over 20y with many companies & it literally get an executive team on the same page as to what's necessary to execute in order to achieve success. By having a rhythmic conversation & updating this One Page Plan on a quarterly basis, it's keeps everyone on-target & aligned.

Chris Carruth VP/Director. Strategy | Business Development | Operations | Product | Solutions

December 23rd, 2014

Amber-

Key metrics differ, depending on what industry you are in, who your customers are, what stage your company is in, etc. If you can share more detail I am sure the group can help.

Aymard SCORBIAC Mazars' Lab : Open Innovation avec des StartUps

December 27th, 2014

Hi Amber,

Complementary to JC very good answer, my approach is to provide a view in 3 pages via matrix graphs with X being the timeframe (always the same for each topic) and Y being the "operating" topic (Offering, Commercial, Financing) :

OFFERING :

- Product/Service : what will be version 1, 2, x by period of time (POT)

- Production : what type of production asset (internal, external / manual/automated...) by POT

COMMERCIAL :

- Clients : which segment by POT

- Geography : which geography by POT

FINANCING

- Investment : what level required by POT

- Funders : what type by POT

Chris Carruth VP/Director. Strategy | Business Development | Operations | Product | Solutions

December 28th, 2014

Amber-

While all of these suggestions are great in terms of framing the data, I believe you are asking the questions "what should the metrics be?".

Of course the best way is to find a public company in our industry and see what is reported to their shareholders as their key metrics. They would be the result of distilling more detailed metrics that are used internally but should give you something to consider. Another way is to just Google "management dashboards for online media companies" or " key metric presentations" or "KPIs for multimedia", etc. You may have to wade through quite a bit of ancillary info but you would be surprised what nuggets of info can be uncovered with some degree of perseverance.

Anonymous

December 23rd, 2014

Thanks, Chris. I was actually leaving it a bit ambiguous because I was hoping for a variety of examples across industries to think about how we might alter what we are currently doing. However, if you think it will help guide the conversation, we are a start up to mid-size multi-platform, multi-media company (i.e. .com, tv, e-commerce, magazine, publishing).

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