This week we completed a Certification Course in Kuala Lumpur with many engaged advisors from SME Bank. It was our third time in Kuala Lumpur and we are excited to meet new advisors every time.
We are happy to welcome them to our global community!
New Release: See a Business Summary in the Business Profile
This month, we are releasing an update to the Business Profile, so you can now see a Business Summary of your clients.
The Business Profile is getting better! With the new update, you can see a Business Summary with just one click. A separate page will appear in your Business Profile, outlining all the values and beliefs, market or customer segments, and customer references you and your client have been working on.
To see the Business Summary go to “My Clients” on GrowthWheel Online and select a client. Under “contact” look for a download button in the top right corner. Then, you choose whether you want a full Business Profile or simply just the Business Summary.
The Business Summary gives you and your client a visual overview of how their organization is performing - it even lists competitors and market players.
The Business Summary will show the progress your client has made and focus on the key aspects of the organization. You can read about the history, mission, product & services, team members and much more!
The business summary gives a quick and accurate 360° perspective on the company - benefiting both the advisor and the client.
Unique Business Summary
—get a quick overview of your client’s organization
Email your clients directly from GrowthWheel Online
Today, we are releasing a new feature on GrowthWheel Online that allow you to quickly send emails to your clients directly from the platform.
It’s really easy! Simply choose one of your clients in the “Client list” on GrowthWheel Online and click on the new email icon. You can now send the email to one or more team members from your client company. You can also add cc or bcc receivers - like a colleague or a CRM-integration.
For your convenience, we have also created some email templates that makes it easy for you to welcome new clients, invite them for a workshop, confirm a meeting, or follow up on your work together.
This is just the first release of this feature. Soon, you will also have the option to edit and save your own personal email templates for every step in the workflow with clients.
Save time with ready-made email templates
—A fast and easy way to catch up with clients!
New Analytics Report — All Charts in One PDF
Today, we are releasing an update to the Analytics menu, so that you can now print a visual PDF report with all analytics of your clients.
In the “Analytics” menu you can see all analytics for your clients’:
Demographics
Financials
Decisions and Actions
Ambitions and Outcomes
Interactions
Before, you had to print one page at a time, but now you can download a full analytics report with a single click.
As an advisor, you can compile a PDF report with all analytics and upload it to any other CRM system you might be using for reporting. This is a great way to visually show the effects of your work.
Your clients can also view analytics of their company and their work on GrowthWheel Online and use the PDF report to showcase their progress to investors, new partners, clients, or the bank.
If you are a center manager or network manager, you can see analytics for your entire organization or network. This is a fast way to get the big picture of what the advisors and clients are working on. You can run through the numbers with your team, or use it as a weekly or monthly review of how your clients are progressing.
Print all analytics as a visual PDF-report
—ready to be shared with stakeholders or used for reporting
You can download all the analytics and reports as a visual PDF and upload it to any other CRM system you might be using for reporting.
New release: Create visual team member profiles to support conversations
Today, we are releasing an update to the team page in the Business Profile, which gives you the opportunity to create visual team member profiles for all employees and board members in your client companies.
The new Team Member Profiles will help business advisors get a quick overview of the client company’s management, employees, and board members.
For each team member you can add information like contact details, educational and professional bio, and role in the company. You can also add sections where you describe the team member’s job responsibilities and professional skills, or demographics for reporting.
The Team Member Profiles support the conversations you are already having with your clients. And by turning your notes into a product in the cloud, you make it much easier for your clients to present their team to stakeholders — or show that they have the required skills to grow the company.
All the new team member profiles can be printed as a visual PDF report — ready to be shared with stakeholders or used for reporting at your center.
On GrowthWheel Online you will be able to:
Create profiles for each team member in the client company
Add contact information, responsibilities, professional skills, and demographics
Print the profile as a visual PDF-report
Create a Team Member Profile in 3 Easy Steps
#1 Add basic information for each team member
Add information like contact details, educational and professional bio, and role in the company.
#2 Add skills and responsibilities
List the team member’s job responsibilities and professional skills.
#3 Add Client demographics
Add client demographics that you can use for reporting.
Print the profile as a visual PDF-report
—ready to be shared with stakeholders or used for reporting
New Release: Schedule Future Meetings on GrowthWheel Online
Our February release brings an update to the Interactions menu so you will be able to schedule and invite clients in addition to keeping track of past interactions.
Starting today, you can schedule interactions like meetings, phone calls, and workshops in the “Interactions” menu on GrowthWheel Online — and invite one or more clients to join you.
When you invite a client for a meeting you can use our new customizable email templates that list all the practical details and allow you and your client to copy the meeting to your personal calendar.
In the Interactions menu you will be able to filter planned interactions from past interactions, manage all interactions, and generate analytics.
You can also print all planned and past interactions as a visual PDF you can use for reporting.
On GrowthWheel Online you and your clients will be able to:
Schedule interactions like meetings, phone calls and workshops and add practical details and purpose of the interaction.
Copy new meetings to your Google, iCal or Outlook calendar
View and download all past or planned Interactions on GrowthWheel Online
3 Easy Steps to Plan Interactions
#1 Schedule a new interaction
Fill in all relevant information about the new interaction, such as type, date and time, location, and purpose.
#2 Invite one or more clients
The customizable email templates make it easy to invite your client to join you for a meeting. You and your client can also copy the meeting to a Google, iCal, or Outlook calendar.
#3 Manage and download interactions
You can manage all past and scheduled interactions on GrowthWheel Online and download the list as a visual PDF that you can use for reporting.
New Release: An easy way to put customer references on display
For our first release of 2019, we are launching an update to the Business Profile that makes it possible to display the customers that can serve as your client’s references.
With Customer References your clients can easily show their customer references to lenders or others who receive the company’s business. These references may have positive stories they can share about your client’s products or services.
This feature will be available in the new menu “Customer References” and allows you and your clients to add more detailed information about your client’s customers — in addition to the market and customer segment in the Business Profile.
On GrowthWheel Online you and your clients will be able to:
Create new Customer References and add details about them
Download all Customer References as a visual PDF
View all Customer References on GrowthWheel Online
3 Easy Steps to Show Customer References
#1 Create a new reference
Add all the details about each of your client’s customers, such as name, status, description, and the year the customer was acquired.
You can also upload an image or the customer’s logo.
#2 Download PDF overview
Get a visual overview of your client’s customer references by downloading them as PDF file.
Now you can easily print or share the references with other stakeholders.
#3 Manage references online
You and your client can view or edit all customer references on GrowthWheel Online in the new menu.
2018 in Review: New Releases on GrowthWheel Online
Over the course of 2018 we have improved and added new features on GrowthWheel Online thanks to the valuable feedback from our users!
We are committed to making continuous and never-ending improvements of the software in collaboration with our users. We release new features on a monthly basis, and we have hundreds of upcoming features on our road map.
In 2018 we released 10 new features. Check them out below or on GrowthWheel Online.
Release overview
January: Track Your Clients' Profit with Charts
In our first release of 2018, we added profit charts to the Business Profile. This gives you and your clients a more comprehensive and complete financial view of the business.
March: E-mail Templates
Save time when you invite new clients with our new e-mail templates brought to you in March.
Instead of writing an new e-mail every time you invite a client to the platform, you now have a ready-made e-mail that you can edit to your wishes.
April: Manage Mentor Relationships
With our April release we created the option to manage your relationship with external mentors on GrowthWheel Online.
In the menu "My Network" you can add mentors, create mentor profiles and download them as good-looking PDFs.
June: See your Clients Market Potential with a Visual Chart
With our June release you can see a visual chart that shows the market potential of your client companies.
Simply add estimated numbers for Market size, Market potential, and Current Market in the client’s Business Profile.
July: Add Partners to the Business Profile
With this release you can add a list of your client companies' partners and see them on a new page in the PDF.
Showing who the client is working with is important information that is useful for banks, lenders, investors, and also yourself.
August: Add the Client's Legal Documents to the Business Profile
Share Legal Information with Stakeholders.
This release makes it possible for advisors and client companies to upload legal documents to GrowthWheel Online and include them in the Business Profile.
September: Assign Decisions and Actions on the 30-60-90 Days Plan
Execute on your ideas by assigning and follow-up.
Our september release brought a substantial improvement to the 30-60-90 Days Plan that allows advisors and their client companies to assign decisions and actions directly to team members.
October: Video tutorials for all Decision Sheets
With this release, you and your clients can watch short video tutorials that explain the 100 GrowthWheel Decision Sheets.
Find the Decision sheets on GrowthWheel Online, and look for the video icon!
November: Plan your workshops with GrowthWheel
In November, we released ready-made workshop programs that you can use to plan, promote, and execute your own workshops.
All materials can be tailored to fit your exact needs.
December: Save and share links on GrowthWheel Online
Our December release enables you to add links to your Personal Tools for each stage of your service: Intake forms (PDF links), Information to register a business, Links to instruction videos, Online sign up forms for your organization’s workshops, and so on.
Amazing Year for GrowthWheel South Africa
2018 is quickly coming to an end, but what a year! For GrowthWheel South Africa 2018 has been a very special year that we couldn’t have anticipated.
GrowthWheel Certification Course
We have run 8 Certification Courses hosted by Alexander Forbes and with the Brian Simelane as instructor and welcomed more than 60 new GrowthWheel Certified Business Advisors.
It’s been 6 years since the first business advisors from the South African entrepreneurship development support eco-system were certified.
Today, more than 250 business development service organizations, accelerators, and incubators use GrowthWheel to create jobs and help small businesses grow.
This year, we have also participated in several key conferences, roundtables, international study trips, pitch competitions, award ceremonies and hundreds of meetings.
Our masterClass at the AfriLabs Annual Gathering was an epic milestone, and it was a huge privilege to be part of the African community.
Signing of the MOU with IBASA
We could have not anticipated that after the South African Business Conference 2018 we finally would sign a landmark agreement with The Institute of Business Advisors Southern Africa (IBASA) that aims to enable over 2000 business advisors to enhance their impact with the GrowthWheel Framework and cloud platform.
Or that we would collaboratively join Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and the YES initiative that was launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 to help SMMEs throughout South Africa to create sustainable jobs.
Also, we would not have anticipated that in 2019 the Seda Incubation eco-system might turn out to be completely paperless due to our co-creation partnership with SEDA and Incubation Partners.
We are looking forward to what the new year will bring, continue to strengthen and grow our collective impact, partnerships with our stakeholders, empower the business advisors and incubators to support the ecosystem in South Africa.
NEW: Save and share links on GrowthWheel Online
Now you can share links to YouTube videos, PDF-files, your organization’s website and more with your clients the same way you share tools on GrowthWheel Online.
This release makes it easier to add and organize information that needs to be shared between you and your client — keeping everything in one place.
You can add links to your Personal Tools for each stage of your service: Intake forms (PDF links), Information to register a business, Links to instruction videos, Online sign up forms for your organization’s workshops, and so on.
To get started, login to GrowthWheel Online, and go to the menu Personal Tools.
You will be able to:
Save website or video links that you can later share on GrowthWheel Online with your clients.
When saving the link in Personal Tools, you can add it to your favorite tools, share it with clients by email, or add it to the tool basket (if you want to share multiple tools and links).
Add links to your Personal Tools in 2 easy steps
#1 Add links you want to share
Go to the menu Personal Tools to add a new link. Add a name, choose “link” in the category, and add the URL of the link you want to share.
You can also add a thumbnail of the information you want to show.
#2 Share links with your client
After adding a new link, you can share it by email with your client, add the link to your Favorites, or the Tool Basket.
You can also add the link directly to the advisor/client files so the link is automatically shared with that person.
NEW: Plan Your Workshops with GrowthWheel
In November, we are happy to release ready-made workshop programs that you can use to plan, promote, and execute your own workshops.
The workshop programs on GrowthWheel Online, make it easier than ever before to set up and organize your own training. All materials can be tailored to fit your exact needs.
To get started, login to GrowthWheel Online, select a workshop topic, and download the template description and slidedeck.
In the footer menu Workshop Programs you will find:
20 new workshop descriptions that you can use for inspiration or as templates
20 new slidedecks with outlines for workshops including presenter notes
2 brand new Decision Sheets that will help you plan the training
Examples of workshops run by GrowthWheel Certified Advisors
If you would like more ideas for how to plan you own workshop program join our OnTrack Webinar on December 14th.
4 steps to prepare your own workshop program
#1 Decide what you would like to offer your clients
You can use the 2 new Decision Sheets to decide what you would like to offer your clients and which focus areas your workshops will cover.
#2 Plan each workshop
You can use the 20 new workshop descriptions - one for each focus area - as inspiration to plan your own workshops.
The workshop descriptions are available as PDF’s and as template PowerPoint slides.
#3 Promote your workshops
You can use the marketing slides or workshop descriptions to promote your workshops. All are available as template PowerPoint slides.
You can also see examples of how other GrowthWheel Certified Advisors are promoting their programs.
#4 Get ready for kick-off
You can use the 20 new template slidedecks as an outline for your own presentation.
All slides have presenter notes to make it even easier for you!
GrowthWheel at EBN Techcamp in Noordwijk, the Netherlands on November 22-23
We are exited to be back at the 8th annual EBN Techcamp in the Netherlands next month.
The EBN TechCamp is the main EBN technical event where incubation and acceleration practitioners from EU|BICs all over Europe and beyond come together for mutual learning, experience exchange and enhancement of technical know-how.
Make sure to come see our presentation of the GrowthWheel visual Toolbox on the first day of the conference, presented by Oliver Mika between 12:30 and 13:00, November 22. During this half an hour participants to the TechCamp will have the chance to discover the tools that are available for support organisations to improve the quality of their job.
Also, don’t forget to drop by our booth for a quick demo of how our online platform can help business advisors and their clients grow in the cloud.
We look forward to seeing you there!
NEW: Video Tutorials for all Decision Sheets
With our October release, you and your clients can now watch short video tutorials that explain the 100 GrowthWheel Decision Sheets.
As an advisor you can watch the video tutorials under My Toolbox on GrowthWheel Online — just look for the video icon!
Each video tutorial explains the Decision Sheet in 1-2 minutes: the job to be done, how to do it, and next steps.
When you email or share a Decision Sheet, your client will be able to watch the video tutorial if he or she has been invited to work with you on GrowthWheel Online. So all you have to do is invite your client and start sharing!
More than ever before the video tutorials allow for clients to better self-serve, giving them an improved digital experience when working with you.
Below you can watch the video tutorial for the Decision Sheet Staff Cost Benefit
3 steps to share tutorial videos with your clients
#1 Look for the video icon
Log in on GrowthWheel Online, go to the Toolbox, find one or more Decision Sheets, and look for the video icon.
Click on the video icon to watch the tutorial.
#2 Share Decision Sheets with clients
Select one or more Decision Sheets and send them to your client.
When you share a Decision Sheet, your client can click on the video icon in the email and will be directed to the menu Advisor Files on GrowthWheel Online, where he or she can watch it.
#3 Your clients can watch the shared video tutorials on GrowthWheel Online
You client can always find video tutorials for shared Decision Sheets in the menu Advisor Files on GrowthWheel Online.
Meet GrowthWheel at the GCEC Conference in Chicago, Illinois on October 18-20
We look forward to seeing you at the 2018 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual conference in Chicago, hosted by DePaul University and Illinois Institute of Technology.
The GCEC is the premier academic organization addressing the emerging topics of importance to the nation’s university-based centers for entrepreneurship. It has become the vehicle by which the top, established entrepreneurship centers, as well as emerging centers, can work together to share best practices, develop programs and initiatives, and collaborate and assist each other in advancing, strengthening, and celebrating the role of universities in teaching the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
Join our session - Turn students into entrepreneurs
Date & Time: Saturday, October 20, 1:00-2:00 PM
Location: Illinois Tech Campus Concurrent Sessions - Siegel #118 Auditorium
Description
Join us to learn how using visual and interactive tools help students take a deeper dive and instantly see the visual data regarding the progress of decisions and actions they are working on as well as the outcomes they have achieved in their project. We will discuss how the absolute flexibility of the toolbox means that it can be fully adapted to an existing curriculum or center service protocol.
Presented by
Elizabeth Binning
Product & Learning Specialist
GrowthWheel, NY
Michael Sanderson, Saint Mary’s University
Matt MacPhee, Saint Mary’s University
Drop by our booth for a quick demo of how our online platform can help you give your studens a digital experience.
Great days at the ASBDC 2018 Conference
We were happy to join the annual ASBDC Conference in Washington DC again this year, and would like to thank everyone. It was great to see many new faces and to reconnect with familiar ones.
