Money Moves Things
If there’s a cause you care about, wouldn’t it be nice to have more money to put to good use? Whether it’s investing in community services, investing in your employees or paying a little more to buy local or sustainable… money moves things. It’s fuel for change. We like change and we like creating fuel for change.
How does your business make money and how can we make more of a good thing?
A business is a purpose-machine. We help tune the machine to produce better outcomes. When everything is in alignment, customers, employees, owners and outside stakeholders all win. You’ll have more resources and opportunities to make a difference on the issues that matter to you!
What matters to us…
Beyond Profitability: Translating business success into social impact.
Building Equity: Increasing success and influence among women and people of color business leaders.
Transformation
We’re inspired to help people and organizations reach their full potential. We’re collaborators and change agents. We help align purpose and profit.
Baseline the big picture - capture the business model
What’s your position compared to competitors and how do customers perceive your company? What’s your competitive advantage and how it is used to deliver value that’s differentiated? A one-page business model blueprint organizes all of the interdependent parts of the business.
Get non-customers talking - gather customer insights
New opportunities are hidden. To find them, you need to deeply understand changing customer expectations and unmet needs in the market. Mining customer insights is one of the most important things we do!
Shift how you think about strategy - embrace innovation
A strategy is not a long list of obvious to-do’s. A growth strategy is knowing what to offer that satisfies deep desires in the market and how in the world to make it possible! There needs to be a blend of new ideas and realistic implementation goals. Strategies should have agility built in, through ongoing customer feedback, refinement, and monitoring traction metrics (not vanity metrics).
Lean into creative tension - welcome to strategic innovation
Collectively Align is a group of strategy and innovation ninjas that straddle the line between analytical and creative, old and new, strategic and tactical. We are creative protagonists who will help you see things with fresh eyes. We call this the art and science of growth and have arrived at our process by merging various best practices and contemporary ways of thinking into a streamlined process for launching new things.
“I wanted to help elect more women to public office and I wanted to support non-profits doing important work. Both required more resources than I had on my own. To make a difference on things I cared about, I needed to be in the business of creating money, so there’d be more available for worthwhile causes.”
Align’s team
How we roll...
Growth is about change and change can be uncomfortable. But, being left behind is even more uncomfortable. You’ve got this!
We know that creativity breeds innovation, and play feeds creativity. Are you willing to have fun and work hard?
No binders. There will be no binders to adorn your shelf. How about a dashboard or prototype instead?
Honesty is the best policy - even when you’re not going to love what we have to say. Let’s say what needs to be said.
We all have lives outside of work and self-care is critical. We’re accountable to your needs, as well as our own.
Learn more on the blog.
Strategic planning has shifted to strategic innovation. And it’s more necessary than ever as customers expect more and problems are more complex and intertwined than ever. CEOs need to lead strategic innovation the right way or risk making the situation worse. First, you need to take stock of where you are and what’s the target of your innovation efforts. Decide to do things differently and take baby steps. Ultimately, there’s a process that startups and corporations know and do, but mid-sized companies that are the last to embrace this way of working will do so at their peril.