Chapter 9 — Emergency Planning
The COVID-19 origin story
Felix tells the story of throwing open the consultancy's doors pro bono in March 2020. The team of experienced consultants — all of whom had weathered the dot-com bust, 9/11 and the 2008 banking crisis — made themselves available free of charge to founders who had no idea what to do.
Two unexpected effects followed. First, industry heavyweights from around the world volunteered to help; the team's reach expanded internationally. Second, working with founders during the crisis showed the team that the 2Y3X process lends itself extraordinarily well to an emergency.
The QuickMap
The QuickMap is a smaller version of the Strategy Map.
- Where the Strategy Map plans three years, the QuickMap plans three months.
- Where the Strategy Map produces a 2Y3X Roadmap for Year 1, the QuickMap produces a single quarter's plan straight away.
- Where the Strategy Map starts with a unifying three-year goal, the QuickMap starts at the end of the next three months and works backwards.
The bet during COVID-19 was pragmatic: if the economy rebooted in less than three months, most businesses would survive; longer than three months would be damaging and possibly transformative, and a business that had spent the time planning would be ready when doors reopened.
"Even if the crisis were to last nine months, the business would be prepared for the rebound — even if the rebound were just a dead cat bounce."
QuickMap® is a registered trade mark of 2Y3X Ltd.
QuickMap for turnarounds
The chapter also tells the story of Felix's first turnaround client after he stepped down as CEO of The Conversation Group: a dozen staff, losing £70,000 a month, who adopted the programme and within two years had more than doubled revenue and reached 17% net profit. That experience proved the programme worked for turnarounds, not just for scaling — and the QuickMap formalises a fast version of that intervention.
When to use a QuickMap instead of a Strategy Map
- Major external shock — pandemic, war, regulatory change, sudden recession.
- Critical client loss — a customer who represented 30%+ of revenue walks.
- Cash crisis — fewer than 3 months of runway.
- Founder change — sudden departure of a co-founder or senior leader.
- Pre-sale tidy-up — the Earnout Maximiser period before a sale.