Technical Assurance Business Plan for Overcoming Too Many Eggs in one Basket

Technical Assurance Business Plan

For

Overcoming Too Many Eggs in One Basket

November 1st, 2016

By:

Zachary Taylor

Table of Contents

1. Abstract
2. Brief History
3. Current Risks/Current Problem
4. Recommendations
5. Timeline and Budget
6. Supporting Documentation
7. Summary

Abstract:

Technical Assurance, Inc. is currently struggling with risks that have been partially created by its own success. Ninety four percent of Technical Assurance’s revenue is now derived by two large accounts and one of those accounts represents 88% of its total revenue. This positions Technical Assurance with too many eggs in one basket and at tremendous risk if they lose these large accounts. In order for Technical Assurance to meet the tremendous growth required by these large accounts they had to invest heavily in staffing and technology. Clearly this is a good news, bad news story for the Company, but Technical Assurance is all in now with their expansive growth. The growth has required an increase in staff personnel of over 300%, increase in company vehicles of 250% and an investment in technology of over 100% from previous years.

The following Business Plan has been developed to clearly identify what the current business growth diversity risks are and how Technical Assurance can best position itself to mediate these risks moving forward.

History:

Technical Assurance was founded in 1993 as a small owner/operator consulting and engineering firm in the niche building enclosure market area. Building owners who value their facility portfolio are faced with numerous challenges when trying to maintain and restore the outside of their buildings. Technical Assurance’s Founder, Edward Taylor, has extensive experience and knowledge associated with the building enclosure/envelope industry and a vision to best help building owners with the outside of their facilities.

Mr. Taylor knew that multi-facility owners struggled with building new facilities with trouble free building enclosures and with how to maintain existing building envelopes over the life of their facilities. Eighty percent of new construction defect claims in the US are a result of moisture and/or bulk rain water penetration through the building envelope (1). Additionally, the two greatest pain points facility managers face for maintaining buildings over their life cycle is related to mechanical systems and roof systems capital renewals (system replacements), which can be extremely costly and painful if not properly managed and maintained.  Technical Assurance was founded to be the building owners advocate for managing and maintaining the building envelope of their facilities.

From 1993 to 1997 Technical Assurance grew to a one million dollar revenue professional service company, with approximately 10 employees. From 1998 to 2004 Technical Assurance grew to a 2.5 million dollar revenue company with 17 employees. From 2005 to 2014 Technical Assurance largest revenue year was 4.6 million and its lowest revenue year during this timeline was 3.6 million. TA’s staffing at this time ranged around the 25-32 employee mark.

It should be noted that the national average revenue of full service building envelope consulting firms is around 2.5 million. Technical Assurance by 2014 was one of the larger building envelope consulting firms, but Mr. Taylor’s vision was to break through the 5 million revenue ceiling and to become one of the largest building enclosure consulting and engineering firms in the world, with multiple branch offices throughout the US and revenues totaling 100 million by 2024.  Furthermore, the Company’s vision was to build a leadership team to manage the business so that the Owner, Mr. Taylor, could sell the business by no later than 2025. Technical Assurance’s leadership team would share in earnings associated with the company sale through long-term incentive agreements.

In 2014 Technical Assurance’s business network lead them to a special and large federal government program that they felt perfectly postured to capture. Technical Assurance invested heavily in a DOE RAMP Program RFP (Request for Proposal) and by late September 2014 they were successful at securing the DOE Contract.

From 2014 to 2015 Technical Assurances revenue grew from 3.6 million to 13.5 million and from 2015 to the end of 2016 Technical Assurance’s revenue shall grow to 36 million. To manage the intensive workload in 2016 Technical Assurance has added 3 branch offices in Indianapolis IN, Albuquerque, NM, and Las Vegas NV. Their staff has grown to over 65 employees and they manage nearly 40 contract employees as well located throughout the US. See Income Statements 2014-16 as Exhibits to this Business Plan, which demonstrate the tremendous growth over the past three years.

Starting in 2013 Technical Assurance’s Owner began to build a company leadership team. Today Technical Assurance has two corporate officers, President and Vice President, and a DOE Program Manager, and Branch Office Managers and a Technology Group Director. A total of 7 sit on the Executive Leadership Team, including Mr. Taylor as the CEO. The Firm also sought outside management consultants to implement a robust business management process, the EOS Model (2). As indicated earlier Technical Assurance’s Founders Vision was to grow the company and build a leadership team so that the company could be well postured for sale no later than 2025. To accomplish this Mr. Taylor felt that the Firm needed outside support and help so that a comprehensive business management approach could be implemented and managed without the need of the Owner, Ed Taylor himself. The Company choose the EOS® Model.

“The EOS®, Entrepreneurial Operating System, is a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools that has helped thousands of entrepreneurs get what they want from their businesses. Implementing EOS will help you and your leadership team get better at three things:

• Vision—getting everyone in your organization 100% on the same page with where you’re going, and how you plan to get there
• Traction®—instilling focus, discipline, and accountability throughout the company so that everyone executes on that vision—every day
• Healthy—helping your leaders become a more cohesive, functional, healthy leadership team”

Current Risks/Current Problem:

Technical Assurance’s growth has presented a major risk associated with lack of client diversity and this risk could impact the Owner’s vision for a business sale in 2025. Researching business risk analytic tools that could be used to provide clarity around this risk the author of this Business Plan For Overcoming Too Many Eggs in One Basket, Zachary Taylor, recommended using a SWOT Analysis. SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) analyzes for measuring business risks and arriving at opportunities to overcome these risks has been in place in the business world for decades. The exact creator of the SWOT Analysis is unknown, but one of the first recorded uses is attributed to Stanford University’s Albert Humphrey who led a research project in the 1960s-1970s based upon the United States’ Fortune 500 (3).