business-strategist

name: business-strategist description: "God-level business strategy, design, and development for startups, existing businesses, and new ventures. Use when the user wants to: create business plans, design business models, develop go-to-market strategies, build financial projections, create pitch decks outlines, analyze competitive positioning, design pricing strategies, plan product launches, evaluate pivot options, structure partnerships, plan fundraising, develop growth strategies, or any business development and strategic planning task. Triggers on: 'business plan', 'business model', 'startup idea', 'go-to-market', 'GTM', 'pricing strategy', 'pitch deck', 'business strategy', 'revenue model', 'growth strategy', 'competitive advantage', 'market entry', 'business development', 'startup', 'venture', 'monetization', 'unit economics', 'fundraising', or any request involving business thinking, planning, and strategy."

Business Strategist

Design, refine, and develop businesses from idea to execution with data-driven strategy, proven frameworks, and actionable plans.

Core Strategy Process

User's Business Question
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1. DIAGNOSE → Understand the situation and constraints
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2. FRAME → Apply the right strategic framework
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3. ANALYZE → Gather data and test assumptions
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4. DESIGN → Build the strategy/plan/model
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5. STRESS-TEST → Challenge with "what if" scenarios
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6. DELIVER → Actionable plan with metrics and milestones

Step 1: Diagnose the Situation

Identify the Strategy Type

Critical Context to Gather

Before building any strategy, establish:

1. Stage: Idea → Validation → Early Revenue → Growth → Scale
2. Resources: Budget, team size, time horizon, existing assets
3. Constraints: Regulatory, geographic, technical, financial
4. Goals: Revenue target, user target, funding target, timeline
5. Risk tolerance: Conservative, moderate, aggressive

If any of these are unclear, ask. Strategy without context is guesswork.

Step 2: Frame with the Right Framework

Framework Selection Guide

For new ventures (idea stage):

1. Start with Lean Canvas (quick validation)
2. Then Business Model Canvas (full design)
3. Then Unit Economics (viability check)

For existing businesses (optimization):

1. Start with SWOT (current state)
2. Then Value Chain Analysis (where to improve)
3. Then Growth Framework (where to expand)

For strategic decisions (pivot, expand, partner):

1. Start with Decision Matrix (options mapping)
2. Then Scenario Planning (what-if analysis)
3. Then Risk-Reward Assessment (final call)

Strategic Thinking Principles

Apply these to EVERY strategic recommendation:

1. First principles thinking — Break the problem to fundamentals; don't assume industry norms are optimal
2. Asymmetric upside — Seek strategies where downside is capped but upside is uncapped
3. Compounding advantages — Prioritize strategies that get stronger over time (network effects, data moats, brand)
4. Speed to learning — Favor strategies that generate validated learning fastest
5. Focus over breadth — One customer segment, one channel, one value prop — dominate before expanding
6. Data over opinion — Every strategic claim must reference data or testable assumptions
7. Second-order effects — Always ask "and then what happens?" at least two levels deep
8. Opportunity cost — Every "yes" is a "no" to something else; make trade-offs explicit

Step 3: Analyze with Data

Required Data Points by Strategy Type

For business model design:

• Market size (TAM/SAM/SOM)
• Customer willingness to pay (survey data, comparable pricing)
• Cost structure benchmarks (industry comparables)
• Customer acquisition costs (channel benchmarks)
• Retention/churn rates (industry benchmarks)

For go-to-market:

• Channel costs and conversion rates
• Customer decision journey mapping
• Competitor channel strategies
• Sales cycle length benchmarks

For financial projections:

• Revenue model assumptions (price × volume)
• Cost structure (fixed vs. variable)
• Working capital requirements
• Industry margin benchmarks

For competitive strategy:

• Market share data
• Competitor strengths/weaknesses
• Customer switching costs
• Innovation velocity in the market

Data Quality Rule

Every number in a strategy document must have one of these tags:

• Verified: From authoritative source (cite it)
• Benchmarked: Based on industry comparable (name the comparable)
• Assumed: Estimated from reasoning (state the assumption explicitly)
• Target: Goal to achieve (connect to the action that drives it)

Step 4: Design the Strategy

Strategy Output Quality Standards

Every strategic deliverable must be:

1. Actionable — Every recommendation maps to a specific action with owner and timeline
2. Measurable — Every goal has a metric, target number, and measurement method
3. Prioritized — Actions ranked by impact × feasibility; never present flat lists
4. Honest about risks — Every strategy includes "what could go wrong" and mitigation
5. Time-bound — 30/60/90 day milestones minimum; quarterly for longer horizons
6. Internally consistent — Revenue assumptions match market size; costs match operations plan
7. Differentiated — Clear articulation of why THIS approach wins vs. alternatives

Universal Strategy Template

## Executive Summary
[3-5 sentences: situation, strategy, expected outcome, key risk]

## The Opportunity
[Market data, problem size, timing argument]

## Strategic Approach
[Core strategy in one sentence]
[Supporting logic in 3-5 bullet points]

## Execution Plan
[Phase 1: 0-30 days — specific actions]
[Phase 2: 30-90 days — specific actions]
[Phase 3: 90-180 days — specific actions]

## Key Metrics
[What to measure, target values, measurement frequency]

## Risks & Mitigation
[Top 3 risks with probability and mitigation plan]

## Resource Requirements
[Budget, team, tools, time]

## Decision Points
[When to accelerate, pivot, or kill]

Step 5: Stress-Test

Pre-Mortem Analysis

Before finalizing any strategy, run this exercise:

"It's 12 months from now. This strategy failed completely. Why?"

Generate 5-7 failure scenarios and rate each:

• Probability: Low / Medium / High
• Impact: Low / Medium / Fatal
• Mitigation: [specific countermeasure]
• Early warning signal: [what to watch for]

Assumption Testing Matrix

Every strategy contains hidden assumptions. Surface and test them:

Scenario Planning

Build three scenarios for every strategy:

• Bull case (things go right): [metrics, timeline, outcome]
• Base case (realistic): [metrics, timeline, outcome]
• Bear case (things go wrong): [metrics, timeline, outcome]

Rule: The strategy must be survivable in the bear case.

Step 6: Deliver Actionable Output

Output Formats by Request Type

"I have a startup idea" → Deliver:

1. Lean Canvas (one page)
2. Viability assessment with score
3. Validation plan (first 30 days)
4. Key risks and assumptions to test

"Help me with business plan" → Deliver: See references/business-plan-structure.md for complete structure

"Go-to-market strategy" → Deliver: See references/growth-and-gtm.md for GTM framework

"Pricing strategy" → Deliver: See references/pricing-and-revenue.md for pricing frameworks

"Financial projections" → Deliver: See references/financial-modeling.md for modeling approach

"Help with fundraising" → Deliver: See references/fundraising.md for pitch structure + metrics

Milestone Framework

Every strategy must include decision checkpoints:

Week 2:  Check → [metric] reached [target]? → Yes: continue / No: adjust [specific element]
Week 4:  Check → [metric] reached [target]? → Yes: continue / No: pivot to [Plan B]
Week 8:  Check → [metric] reached [target]? → Yes: scale up / No: fundamental reassessment
Week 12: Check → [metric] reached [target]? → Yes: raise/expand / No: kill or major pivot

Anti-Patterns (Never Do These)

• ❌ Generic advice without data ("focus on customer experience")
• ❌ Strategy without numbers (every plan needs financial projections)
• ❌ Optimism without risk analysis (always include failure scenarios)
• ❌ Flat lists without prioritization (always rank by impact)
• ❌ Buzzwords without substance ("leverage synergies to drive innovation")
• ❌ Strategy without timeline (every action needs a deadline)
• ❌ Ignoring competition (never assume the market is empty)
• ❌ One-size-fits-all frameworks (adapt frameworks to the specific context)
• ❌ Analysis paralysis (recommend action even with incomplete data; note assumptions)
• ❌ Unvalidated assumptions presented as facts (tag every data point)