# Growth Strategy Review — example deliverable Source: https://stacktr.ee/examples/growth-strategy-review [← stacktr.ee](https://stacktr.ee/) · example deliverable · fictional client, real product · [Publish your own version](https://app.stacktr.ee/new?template=client-deliverable&from=example-strategy-review) ︎ Confidential · prepared for the Lumen board Board paper · tabled 11 Sep 2026 Ashford Partners Strategy & Corporate Advisory # Growth Strategy Review Lumen · growth options for FY27, and the one to take Prepared forThe Lumen board EngagementLM·SR·0726 Issued31 July 2026 Lead partnerE. Whitlock Contents [01 Recommendation](#r1) [02 Options assessed](#r2) [03 Key findings](#r3) [04 Decisions & next steps](#r4) ## 01 · Recommendation ### The mid-market is open now. The rebuild can wait. Recommendation to the board Enter the mid-market now; defer the platform rebuild. The window is priced into FY27, the rebuild is not. Lumen’s position is stronger than the last board review assumed. Retention is best-in-class, mid-market inbound has doubled in a year without a single pound of targeted spend, and the product already meets the segment’s requirements as shipped. What the numbers do not support is the enterprise push: cycles run twice as long up-market and close at roughly half the rate. We assessed four strategic options against a common scorecard. One clears the bar decisively. The mid-market entry asks for £1.2m of FY27 budget, reuses the current platform as is, and models payback inside six quarters. The platform rebuild is a real need, but an FY28 one; funding it this year would starve the growth motion to fix a constraint Lumen has not yet hit. Fig. 1 · Three horizons. FY27 money holds the core (H1) and funds the mid-market entry (H2); the rebuild sits on H3 until FY28 planning. ## 02 · Options assessed ### Four options, one clear winner Each option was scored out of ten against five weighted criteria: value creation, time to impact, execution readiness, capital required, and risk. The map below plots value against readiness, and draws each option at the size of the capital it asks for; the shaded quadrant is where FY27 money should go. Fig. 2 · Dot area scales with FY27 capital at ask. The shaded quadrant is where the year’s money goes. A · Mid-market entry8.4 B · Platform rebuild5.1 C · Enterprise push4.6 D · Adjacent product3.9 Weights: value creation 30% · time to impact 25% · readiness 20% · capital 15% · risk 10%. Capital at ask: A £1.2m · B £3.1m · C £1.8m · D £0.9m. Option A recommended; B deferred to FY28; C and D not pursued. ## 03 · Key findings ### Three findings that frame the decision #### Enterprise cycles run twice as long, and close half as often Headwind Median sales cycle is 96 days in the enterprise segment against 47 days in the mid-market, with win rates of 19% and 34% respectively. CAC payback stretches from 11 months to 29. The up-market motion consumes the sales team’s best capacity for the weakest unit economics in the book. SR-03 · 24 months of pipeline data Sales cycle · days Enterprise96 Mid-market47 Win rate · % Enterprise19 Mid-market34 CAC payback · months Enterprise29 Mid-market11 #### Pricing leaves margin unclaimed Opportunity List price has not moved since January 2024. Discounting averages 18% and shows no correlation with deal size, and benchmark peers price 12–15% above Lumen for equivalent seats. A disciplined reprice with a discount floor is worth an estimated 4–6 points of gross margin without touching the product. SR-07 · peer set of 31 companies #### Retention is best-in-class at 94% Strength Gross revenue retention of 94% and net retention of 109% put Lumen in the top decile of its peer set. Churn is concentrated in the smallest tier, below £6k ACV, precisely the accounts the mid-market motion replaces. The retention engine is the strongest argument for buying more customers now. SR-11 ## 04 · Decisions & next steps ### What we are asking the board to decide RefDecisionOwnerDate DR-01Approve the mid-market entry: £1.2m FY27 budget, two-pod sales motionBoard11 Sep 2026 DR-02Stand up the mid-market pod; first hires in seat and territories assignedCRO30 Oct 2026 DR-03Reprice new business from 1 Jan 2027; hold a 12% discount floorCFO30 Nov 2026 DR-04Re-scope the rebuild as incremental service extraction; full review at FY28 planningCTO15 Jan 2027 Where the £1.2m goes DR-02 · CRO Two-pod sales motion £680k 57% of ask Two pods of three, hired from October against named mid-market territories. FY27 · Marketing Mid-market demand programme £340k 28% of ask First paid programme behind inbound that doubled without spend. DR-03 · CFO Reprice & discount floor £110k 9% of ask Deal-desk tooling and enablement to hold the 12% floor from January. DR-04 · CTO Service extraction (scoping) £70k 6% of ask Incremental extraction only; the full rebuild question returns at FY28 planning. The first twelve months Fig. 3 · The first twelve months. Oxblood, board decision · slate, executive delivery · open, checkpoint. This review is tabled at the 11 September board. Any revision before the meeting comes as a new page beside this one. Ashford Partners Strategy & corporate advisory · prepared for the Lumen board · not for onward distribution Questions? e.whitlock@ashfordpartners.com Engagement LM·SR·0726 A fictional example published with Stacktree · no real client data --- Full markdown summary of the Stacktree marketing surface: https://stacktr.ee/llms-full.txt