Introducing BHAGs: Your Big, Bold Vision for the Future
A BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is a compelling, long-term objective that pushes you beyond ordinary boundaries, inspiring you or your organisation to achieve something remarkable. First coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book Built to Last, a BHAG acts as a powerful guiding star, motivating teams and individuals to strive for ambitious outcomes. Think of it as your ultimate aspiration—bold enough to energise, clear enough to guide, and exciting enough to unite everyone involved.
I will share some examples of organisations that have understood the BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL concept and the results they have achieved. This whitepaper provides more support.
Huel (UK): Revolutionising Food with Nutritional Shakes - Industry: Food & Nutrition - Location: UK
BHAG: To make nutritionally complete food accessible and normal for people across the globe, reducing reliance on conventional farming practices that strain environmental resources.
Background: Founded in 2015 by Julian Hearn, Huel began as a small UK startup selling nutritionally complete food in powder form. Hearn's BHAG was to disrupt the food industry by providing healthy, affordable, and sustainable meals that offered all the necessary nutrients, without the environmental impact of traditional agriculture.
Targets and Metrics: Huel's initial targets included gaining 100,000 loyal customers in the UK within its first three years and expanding into international markets shortly thereafter. The company measured success through online sales, customer satisfaction, and growth in international shipping orders. They also set sustainability targets, aiming to minimise their carbon footprint and use 100% recyclable packaging.
Success: Huel surpassed its initial targets, reaching a customer base of over 1 million by 2021 and expanding operations to 80 countries. They’ve made significant strides in mainstreaming nutritionally complete food, sticking closely to their BHAG of revolutionising the way people think about sustainable nutrition.
Blackbird Ventures (Australia): Empowering Australian Tech Startups - Industry: Venture Capital - Location: Australia
BHAG: To create 100 Australian companies worth over $100 million each. Background: Blackbird Ventures, founded in 2012, is a venture capital firm that focuses on supporting tech startups in Australia. The company’s BHAG is to transform Australia into a global hub for tech innovation by creating a generation of local tech companies that can compete on the world stage.
Targets and Metrics: From the outset, Blackbird Ventures set clear goals for funding promising Australian startups. They aimed to fund 100 tech companies within 10 years and help them scale to $100 million valuations each. Their key performance indicators included the number of successful funding rounds, the growth of their portfolio companies, and the return on investment for their partners.
Success: Blackbird has backed several successful startups, including Canva (now valued at over $40 billion) and SafetyCulture. While Canva became a unicorn, most of Blackbird’s successes come from smaller startups that have achieved profitability and market dominance in niche sectors, illustrating how ambitious targets can elevate the broader business ecosystem.
Courageous Leaders (Australia): Creating Transformational Leadership - Industry: Leadership Development - Location: Australia
BHAG: To create transformational leaders across 1000 organisations in Australia and New Zealand by 2025. Background: Courageous Leaders is a boutique leadership development firm based in Australia. Founded by Mandy Holloway, their mission is to help leaders develop courage, authenticity, and resilience in their leadership styles. Their BHAG focuses on having a transformative impact on leadership within organisations across Australia and New Zealand.
Targets and Metrics: Courageous Leaders has set a clear goal to reach 1000 organisations by 2025, using leadership development programs, workshops, and coaching. They measure success through client satisfaction surveys, repeat business engagements, and measurable improvements in leadership effectiveness within their client organisations.
Success: While still working toward their BHAG, Courageous Leaders has successfully expanded its client base across Australia and New Zealand, working with businesses in a range of industries, including finance, healthcare, and education. Its long-term partnerships with businesses have shown that its audacious target is both attainable and impactful, especially for small—to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Fiasco Gelato (New Zealand / USA): Crafting Artisan Gelato for the Masses - Industry: Food & Beverage - Location: Originally from New Zealand, with operations expanding to the USA
BHAG: To become the top artisanal gelato brand across the US and New Zealand, while staying environmentally and socially conscious. Background: Founded by an entrepreneurial team in New Zealand, Fiasco Gelato began as a small local business creating high-quality, artisanal gelato. Their BHAG was bold: they didn’t want to just remain a beloved brand in New Zealand—they wanted to crack the competitive US market while maintaining their core values of sustainability and quality.
Targets and Metrics: Fiasco Gelato initially set targets around revenue growth, market share in both the US and New Zealand, and environmental impact (with a focus on sustainable sourcing and reducing their carbon footprint). The business also set clear targets for social impact, aiming to donate a percentage of profits to local causes and charities.
Success: The company steadily grew into a household name in New Zealand, becoming synonymous with artisan-quality desserts. In 2020, Fiasco Gelato entered the US market with distribution in several states, expanding their reach while maintaining their commitment to sustainability. They track their success by market share growth, customer satisfaction, and sustainability metrics, including reduced plastic packaging and carbon-neutral production processes.
Trade Ideas (USA): Disrupting Stock Trading with Technology - Industry: Financial Technology (FinTech) - Location: USA
BHAG: To democratize stock market trading by providing cutting-edge, AI-driven stock analysis tools to retail investors. Background: Trade Ideas, a small US-based fintech company, had a vision to revolutionise how individual retail investors access the stock market. Their BHAG was to disrupt the financial sector by providing AI-powered tools that were previously only accessible to institutional investors.
Targets and Metrics: From the start, Trade Ideas set a clear goal to grow its user base among retail investors, targeting 100,000 users within the first five years. It measured success through customer adoption rates, the effectiveness of its AI-driven stock picks, and feedback from its user community.
Success: Today, Trade Ideas has become a trusted name in the world of fintech, with thousands of retail investors using its platform. It continues to work toward its BHAG by offering continuous innovation in its product line and making stock trading more accessible for individuals, showing how a small business can disrupt a massive, entrenched industry.
RedBalloon is another excellent example of how a small business in Australia set ambitious targets and a bold vision, ultimately becoming a market leader in the experiential gift industry. Between 2007 and 2014, I was privileged to be part of this RedBalloon team during exceptional growth, focus, and enviable employee engagement.
RedBalloon (Australia): Leading the Experiential Gift Market - Industry: E-commerce / Experience Gifts - Location: Australia
BHAG: To create 10 million memorable experiences by 2020 and become the leading provider of experiential gifts in Australia and New Zealand. Background: RedBalloon was founded by Naomi Simson, later to appear on Shark Tank Australia, in 2001 with the idea of offering unique, memorable experiences as gifts, rather than traditional material items. What started as a small e-commerce business quickly became a household name, thanks to its focus on curating exceptional experiences like hot air ballooning, gourmet dinners, and adventure sports. Naomi Simson had a clear vision for RedBalloon: to revolutionise the gift industry by offering experiences that created lasting memories. Her BHAG was bold—to provide 10 million memorable experiences by 2020, a massive target for a small e-commerce platform.
Targets and Metrics: RedBalloon set ambitious targets early, with clear metrics around customer growth, partner expansion (bringing on new experience providers), and brand awareness. They aimed to grow the number of experience bookings year-over-year while maintaining high customer satisfaction and experience quality.
Their core metrics included:
1. Customer satisfaction scores (Net Promoter Score, or NPS).
2. Number of experiences booked per year.
3. Expansion of experience offerings across Australia and New Zealand.
RedBalloon also focused on making their platform easy to use, setting internal targets for website functionality, and improving the user experience to ensure smooth booking processes.
Success: By 2016, RedBalloon had already delivered over 3 million experiences and was well on its way to achieving its BHAG of 10 million experiences by 2020. Through a relentless focus on customer satisfaction, partner relationships, and brand-building, RedBalloon became the leading experiential gift platform in Australia and New Zealand. Naomi Simson’s leadership and vision were key to the company’s success. RedBalloon is now part of the Big Red Group (BRG), which Naomi co-founded in 2017, further expanding the reach of the business into new areas of experience-based e-commerce.
Celebrating Success: RedBalloon consistently celebrated its wins, both internally and externally. The company regularly celebrated key milestones, such as reaching 1 million and then 3 million experiences, and recognised the efforts of its team members and partners. This culture of celebration helped maintain high levels of employee engagement and created a strong sense of purpose within the organisation.
These examples illustrate that BHAGs and structured goal-setting are not reserved for large global companies. Regardless of their size or industry, small businesses can achieve remarkable success by setting bold, ambitious goals that push them beyond their current limits. Whether transforming leadership practices, revolutionising nutrition, or entering competitive international markets, these small businesses from the UK, Australia, and the USA show how clear targets and a big vision can lead to long-term growth and impact.
Small businesses can achieve extraordinary results by focusing on purpose-driven, measurable, and ambitious goals. They often become game-changers in their own industries.
As you reflect on your personal and professional journey, I challenge you to think boldly—what is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG)?
Whether you’re leading your business to new heights, advocating for social change, or striving for personal growth, your BHAG should be a powerful goal that excites, scares, and motivates you simultaneously.
Think beyond the limits imposed by society, others, or even yourself.
What’s the impact you want to make, and what legacy do you want to leave behind? But a bold vision is only the beginning.
You need to methodically track your progress to transform your BHAG from a dream into reality. Break your audacious goal into smaller, measurable activities—specific targets, key performance indicators (KPIs), or milestones. What daily actions will move you closer to your goal? What habits or strategies will keep you on track?
Just like the businesses and leaders you admire, success requires a combination of courage, strategy, and consistency.
Now, it’s your turn. Set your sights high.
Write down your BHAG. Identify the measurable activities and metrics that will guide your path.
Most importantly, commit to tracking your progress and celebrating your wins, no matter how small. Your BHAG is your declaration of potential, a challenge to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
It’s time to turn that vision into action. You’ve got this.
Get more insights and support with our BHAG Whitepaper.
