Published with approval from customer: “After 15 years of portfolio management, I’ve discovered the #1 reason why strategic guidance fails to translate into execution across our portfolio companies.”
“Last quarter, I sat in on board meetings across 12 of our portfolio companies. Same pattern everywhere: brilliant strategic discussions in the boardroom, complete confusion on the execution floor.
The CFO of one of our fastest-growing SaaS companies put it perfectly: “We have 47 PowerPoint slides explaining our strategy, but our team leads still can’t answer: What exactly are we trying to achieve this quarter?”
This is the strategic communication gap—and it’s costing portfolio companies millions in lost execution velocity.
The Hidden Cost of Strategic Complexity
Here’s what I’ve learned from managing €500M+ across 25+ portfolio companies: The most successful scaleups aren’t those with the most sophisticated strategies—they’re those with the clearest strategic communication frameworks.
When strategic direction gets lost in translation between investor guidance and company execution, we see:
- 35% slower time-to-market for strategic initiatives
- 60% higher employee turnover in key leadership roles
- 2.3x more board meetings spent re-explaining the same strategic priorities
- 43% lower achievement of quarterly strategic milestones
The root cause? We’re trying to communicate complex, multi-dimensional strategies using the wrong tools.
Enter OGSM: Strategy Communication That Actually Works
OGSM (Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Measures) is a strategic planning framework that links short-term actions with long-term goals, used by Fortune 500 companies to create one-page strategic documents that clearly outline business goals and strategies.
But here’s what makes it powerful for portfolio companies: It forces strategic clarity at every level.
Instead of 47-slide strategy presentations, OGSM gives you:
- One page that captures your entire strategic direction
- Four clear sections that anyone can understand and act upon
- Direct line of sight from daily actions to long-term objectives
- Measurable outcomes that align with investor expectations
Real Portfolio Impact: The Numbers Don’t Lie
Since implementing OGSM across our portfolio companies 18 months ago, we’ve seen remarkable improvements:
At the Portfolio Level:
- 67% reduction in “strategic alignment” board meeting time
- 89% increase in quarterly milestone achievement rates
- 3.2x improvement in cross-functional team coordination scores
- 52% faster strategic pivot execution when market conditions change
At the Company Level:
- Leadership teams spend 40% less time in strategic planning meetings
- 85% of employees can now articulate company strategy in under 2 minutes
- Strategic initiative success rate increased from 34% to 78%
- Employee engagement scores up 23% (people understand their impact)
The Portfolio Company OGSM Framework
Here’s how we’ve adapted OGSM specifically for portfolio company management:
Objective (The “Why”): Your 3-5 year vision that aligns with investor thesis Example: “Become the leading AI-powered customer service platform for mid-market B2B companies”
Goals (The “What”): 3-5 measurable outcomes for the next 12-18 months Example: “Achieve $10M ARR with 95%+ customer satisfaction and expand to 3 new verticals”
Strategies (The “How”): Key strategic choices and resource allocation decisions Example: “Double down on product-led growth, build enterprise sales team, acquire complementary technology”
Measures (The “Proof”): Leading and lagging indicators that prove strategy is working Example: “Monthly recurring revenue growth, net promoter score, sales pipeline velocity, customer acquisition cost”
Why OGSM Software Changes Everything
Traditional strategy documents live in PowerPoint graveyards. OGSM Software brings strategy to life for your entire organization, creating dynamic, living documents that:
For Investors:
- Real-time visibility into portfolio company strategic execution
- Standardized strategic reporting across all portfolio companies
- Clear escalation triggers when strategies go off-track
- Simplified due diligence for follow-on investments
For Portfolio Company Leadership:
- Simplified strategic communication to all stakeholders
- Automated alignment between department OGSMs and company OGSM
- Data-driven strategic decision making
- Faster response time to market changes
For Portfolio Company Teams:
- Crystal-clear understanding of how their work connects to company success
- Simplified goal-setting and performance management
- Reduced time spent in alignment meetings
- Increased autonomy within clear strategic guardrails
The Competitive Advantage of Strategic Clarity
While other investors struggle with strategy execution gaps, portfolio companies using OGSM frameworks consistently outperform on key metrics:
- Strategy-to-execution cycle time: 60% faster
- Cross-functional alignment scores: 3.4x higher
- Board meeting productivity: 67% improvement
- Employee strategic comprehension: 89% vs. 34% industry average
Implementation That Actually Sticks
The key to successful OGSM implementation across portfolio companies:
Start with the Leadership Team: Every C-level executive creates their departmental OGSM that ladders up to the company OGSM.
Cascade Systematically: Each team level creates OGSMs that connect to the level above, ensuring alignment from CEO to individual contributor.
Review Rhythms: Monthly OGSM reviews replace traditional strategy meetings—focus on measures and strategic adjustments.
Software Integration: Use platforms like OGSMSoftware.com to maintain living, breathing strategic documents that update in real-time.
The Bottom Line for Portfolio Success
Strategic portfolio management is about focusing finite resources and capital on prioritizing projects and services that execute global, enterprise-wide strategy. OGSM makes this possible by creating unprecedented strategic clarity across all portfolio companies.
The investors who crack the code on strategy communication—who help their portfolio companies translate strategic guidance into executable clarity—will capture the outsized returns of the next decade.
The question isn’t whether your portfolio companies have good strategies. It’s whether they can execute them.
Have you struggled with the strategy-execution gap in your portfolio companies? What frameworks have you found most effective for strategic communication? I’d love to hear your experiences edward@ogsmsoftware.com
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