Case Study for Optimize Now
Full Case Study available here.
Avasta Founder and CEO Edgar Baum was ready to take his business to the next level. He wanted to spend more time working on the business strategy and give his leadership team the tools they needed to be accountable for their own divisions of the company. In a surprise twist, the Bootcamp led to restructuring at Avasta, followed by record-breaking growth and a much stronger and capable leadership team.
Company Overview
Avasta works with businesses and corporations worldwide to find their best customers. The team works with clients to optimize their customer acquisition strategies, leveraging expertise in marketing, sales, finance, and branding. They help corporations effectively target their best customers using the ideal messaging for their businesses. Headed by Edgar Baum, the Avasta team is made up of a diverse range of backgrounds including analytics, marketing, brand, data and computer science, research, operations and corporate finance.
The Challenge
After a serious decrease in clients during the Pandemic, Avasta rebuilt quickly and was ready to take the team to the next level. Edgar and his team had new goals they wanted to reach, and they wanted to start looking at medium- to long-term goals. Working toward future endeavours was an ideal outcome, as Edgar wanted to be able to spend more time working ON the business, rather than IN the business, working on the many daily tasks that he seemed to be caught up in. Edgar wanted members of the leadership team to be accountable for various pillars within the business. This would allow him more time to work on business strategy and free him from executing the business’s daily tasks.
Our Bootcamp Solution
Edgar and the Avasta team spread their Optimization Bootcamp over 12 sessions in about four months. During the Bootcamp, Edgar started to see things differently. He was able to see what he was really doing with the business and began to clarify and align his team.
1. Strategic restructuring was needed. Before Bootcamp, the Avasta team consisted of 22 employees, including 6 interns. After learning who was actually doing what work, Edgar realized that the team could be seriously downsized. The new leadership team has more responsibility, as well as more accountability within the business.
2. As a leader, Edgar has gained a clearer vision of what he is ‘really’ doing. Six months after the Bootcamp, he doubled his knowledge of his business and the strategies needed to move it forward.
3. Hiring processes have changed and slowed. Edgar is now hiring for long-term leadership and has a better understanding of the qualities and skill sets he is looking for to fill roles within his team.
Results
• During the first half of 2023, the Avasta team started many projects and won many client bids that didn’t get completed. In the second half of the year, project completion was the best it had been in 18 months, with a smaller, more focused and accountable team.
• The Avasta team is now much stronger and more focused. Leaders are accountable for their own departments. Together, they are creating a new vision for the business and working towards it with cross-team strategies and responsibilities.
• After analyzing what goals were being met and what activities were being completed, Avasta changed its priorities within the company. From 80 ‘priorities’ before the Bootcamp, it is now focusing on 10 main goals for current and future work.
• A new business plan is being developed to reflect Avasta’s new direction. Current leadership will influence the plan by adding their goals and leveraging the team’s strengths.
• Along with the new business plan, Avasta is working towards a new common narrative as a leadership team, which is crafted by the team itself. They are working to realize the ‘Why’ of the business within their daily work, ensuring they are working towards the business goals, rather than just completing tasks as they come up.
“We wanted to facilitate centers of excellence, provide the foundational training for people to be able to take on accountability. And some of them have really stepped forward very well – two of them are really powerful, taking great ownership and accountability in the business. Some previous employees did not measure up to their new responsibilities. I learned from the Bootcamp by having to go and retire a lot of my own views and aspirations, so that the business could succeed.” Edgar Baum, Owner and CEO
Kimberly Callaghan 