The remarkable story of Propel v3

PROPEL
COMICS
ISSUE: FIRST ISSUE #03
NOVEMBER 2019
THE REMARKABLE STORY OF PROPEL
LIMITED
EDITION

As news broke about the launch of yet
Another game changing product Jim’s
Fixation on this amazing company grew...
who is
propel?
what are they
all about?
i must
know
chapter 1 : what is propel?

WE LE
PROD
We lead the pr
management and
execution so tha
we go and ad
product-
HOW IS PROPEL DIFFERENT?
WE PARTNER
FOR SUCCESS
GTM requires a unique set of
capabilities, therefore Propel
strategically partners with
organisations with strong
customer channels.

WE SHARE
THE RISK
We contractually share
the risk with our
partners and our team
members have ‘skin
in the game’
AD THE
UCT
oduct strategy,
design through to
t we can learn as
apt to achieve
market fit.
chapter 1 : what is propel?

HOW DO THEY DELIVER?
WE DRIVE HIGH PERFORMANCE
THROUGH CULTURE & LEADERSHIP
We've built a safe environment, where team members are
trusted and empowered to work autonomously and take
responsibility for the outcome of their own projects.

WE INVEST IN BUILDING TEAMS
We invest in our teams; we don’t bodyshop talent.
A small, passionate team can make a
big impact on the world.
chapter 1 : what is propel?

But to really uncover the genius w
Where did it all sta
As a strategist at INTUIT in California, Ben got to
work with both great people as well as products.
It was here that saw what good looked like and
was driven to create something on his own…
He then went out on his own investing both his
time and money in QUOTIFY. He learned how to
build an enduring business with agility, tenacity
and a bias for action.
They met at MYOB where they worked
introduced to an idea developed by Ba
deeply with the guys, and would subse
Ben put all the hard lessons he had learned
into practice to develop the award-winning
MYADVISOR app. For the go-to-market,
he partnered with myob, and with the success
of that partnership, a new business model was
born, which became…

e must go back to the beginning.
rt? Who are they?
As a software leader and
engineer for many years, Paul led large
teams to build many successful products.
He saw that great products require great
teams and are nothing without a great
go to market strategy.
in a high performance culture. It was here that they were
in, about The Founder's Mentality. This idea resonated
quently be a foundation of the culture for Propel Ventures.
PROPEL VENTURES is a scalable, repeatable business model
which combines the best of:
• Intuit’s model of rockstar product management and design;
• The agile and entrepreneurial dna of Quotify;
• The high performance and values-driven culture of MYOB; with
• The incentives from having skin in the game, from Bain’s PE
model and the myadvisor experience.
This creates a compelling business model with potential to make
an outsized impact.
Start your engines...
chapter 1 : what is propel?

VALUE NO.1
Being focused, taking
ownership and having
a bias for action
We smash
through obstacles,
always finding new
and better ways
to achieve
our goals.
We resolve open
questions fast, and favour
using data and direct client
feedback to make decisions.
For example, it is not unusual
to call a client to obtain their
input in the design process
in real time - take the insight
and move forward.

VALUE NO.2
CRAFTSMANSHIP
Investing the right amount of
time to work your magic
The product development process is like a game
of snakes and ladders, and we are always on the
lookout for ladders to accelerate development.
Craftsmanship at Propel embraces the capability
to identify parts of the design process where we
can disproportionately invest effort vs parts
where we can go lean.
“
At PROPEL,
we balance a
healthy respect
for process with
a delight for
breaking rules.
How do you
spend more
effort on the
right parts of
the process?
chapter 2: our values

VALUE NO.3
CLIENT OBSESSION
Building empathy for and
understanding of our clients
This value is
universal for
businesses - for us,
we go deep by living
the experience of
the client.
FOR EXAMPLE…
WE DIDN’T JUST BUILD A
CORPORATE COMPLIANCE
PRODUCT, WE WENT A STEP
FURTHER TO UNDERSTAND
THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE
BY RUNNING OUR OWN
OUTSOURCED CORPORATE
COMPLIANCE SERVICE
FOR ACCOUNTANTS, WITH
ENGINEERS DOING THE
WORK THAT ACCOUNTANTS
USUALLY DO.
We use all our
own products
to run all
our businesses

VALUE NO.4
Having direct honest conversations,
focusing on the issue not the individual.
Equal measures of heart and head.
We
recognise that
conflict is the pursuit
of truth - conflict always
exists, we just expose it through
forthright conversations.Forthright
conversations are predicated on
building a foundation of trust amongst
team members. We use the level of
constructive conflict in the
team as a barometer for
the level of trust.
We always
assume
‘good intent’
in our
interactions
chapter 2: our values

VALUE NO.5
We make an outsized impact
relative to the time spent
We have a
preference to take
on projects which
make a material
impact.

I Wonder
what it would
be like to work
there…
HINT: TURN THE PAGE TO FIND OUT...
chapter 3 : The Employee Value Proposition

Work and Life and not two distinct things at opposite ends of
a spectrum, there is no trade-off between these two things
- they instead usually rise and fall in tandem.
If your home life improves, your work life improves and vice versa,
so we want to ensure both are balanced and ideally integrated
with each other in a flexible way.
We want you to be able to use technology to help manage work
life balance eg. working from home to avoid a long commute.

EVP NO.1
Our
promise to
our team
members
are that
we do the
following:
Care about protecting our
culture and people.
We expect them to be
smart and hungry but
also humble.
EVP NO.2
Create a safe, connected environment,
where everyone is trusted to get the job
done.
chapter 3: The Employee Value Proposition

THE ADVANTAGE
Manage
Lead
HIGH OUTPUT
MANAGEMENT
inspire
MYERS-BRIGGS
PERSONALITIES
RADICAL CANDOUR
Drive
MYERS-BRIGGS
THE ADVANTAGE
TUCKMAN’S STAGES

EVP NO.3
Provide a learning environment so
everyone feels like they are being
challenged to grow.
chapter 3: The Employee Value Proposition

233 Punt Rd, Richmond VIC 3121
propelventures.com.au