After an acquisition, don't try to learn and sell the entire new product catalog at once. This leads to overwhelm. Instead, select a small, relevant batch of products (e.g., five) to focus on for a set period, then rotate to a new batch. This creates a manageable, step-by-step learning process.
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Avoid a fixed allocation of resources between core products and new initiatives. Instead, treat the investment mix as "seasonal." Periodically and purposefully reassess the balance based on the most pressing business needs—whether it's stabilizing the core for large customers or pushing aggressively into new markets for growth.
Post-M&A, salespeople are often overwhelmed by new products. Instead of trying to learn every feature, conduct a "listening tour" with customers. Understand their unique definitions of value, as what's important to one is irrelevant to another, even if they look similar on paper.
The key to effective portfolio entrepreneurship isn't random diversification. It's about serving the same customer segment across multiple products. This creates a cohesive ecosystem where each new offering benefits from compounding knowledge and trust, making many things feel like one thing.
Don't force your sales team to learn and sell a completely new product. Instead, integrate the new capability into an existing, successful product, making it "first" or "default" for that channel. This reduces sales friction and complexity, leveraging established momentum for adoption.
Before a major business pivot, first identify what can be let go or scaled back. This creates the necessary space and resources for the new direction, preventing overwhelm and ensuring the pivot is an extension of identity, not just another added task on your plate.
To scale effectively, resist complexity by using the 'Scaling Credo' framework. It mandates radical focus: pick one target market, one product, one customer acquisition channel, and one conversion tool. Stick to this combination for one full year before adding anything new.
A smart growth strategy is to ignore fleeting micro-trends and instead focus on proven bestsellers. By creating variations and expanding on successful designs, brands can develop entirely new product categories based on existing customer love.
Counterintuitively, focusing on a single, powerful SKU can be more effective for initial growth than launching a full product line. It simplifies your message, makes you attractive to distributors who value efficiency, and builds a strong customer base before you introduce new offerings.
When launching new products, large companies should avoid a big-bang rollout. Instead, use a phased approach: start with 5 reps to find product-market fit, expand to 50 to build a scalable go-to-market playbook, and only then deploy to the full 500-person sales force for mass scaling.
Deel's acquisition strategy accelerates time-to-market by rebuilding an acquired product's front-end within two months and immediately giving it to the sales team. While salespeople are learning and selling, the engineering team rebuilds the entire back-end natively. This parallel process closes a potential 12-month integration gap and generates immediate market feedback.
