Business strategy

👩‍🎨👩‍🔬👨‍🌾 Define your market.

Focusing on your top 3 or 4 markets (6 max), define their key characteristics.

🧛Define your anti-buyer.

An "antibuyer" is a user who appears to fit within a target segment based on key characteristics but has a critical reason or factor that prevents them from purchasing your product or service. Identifying antibuyers is essential for refining your market targeting and crafting a sales strategy focused on the right customers. By understanding what turns these potential customers away, you can avoid misallocating resources and ensure your efforts are directed toward clients who are a true fit for your offering.

Who would be the early adopter and why?

Early adopter: An early adopter is an individual or business that will use a new product or solution. This user usually is excited about the product or solution and helps companies grow by providing feedback.

Open the board and think about your buyer and anti-buyer.

How would you use this information to better target your buyer? How would you use this infomation to find them? What channels will you use?

💫What characteristics make someone a potential buyer? This will be your sales qualification framework that filters leads based on your ideal customer profile (ICP)

What additional information do you need about each segment? What are you assuming, and what should be tested?

Answer the following questions. Ask yourself how you know the answer, and estimate how accurate your answer actually is.

The Value Proposition Canvas is the perfect tool for understanding how customers and users make decisions. It helps you create offers and sales pages that truly appeal to them, allowing you to persuade more effectively by directly addressing their pain points.

👉Objective: Achieve clear problem–solution fit for one or two priority customer segment and turn it into usable messaging (deck/landing page).

Choose a single, concrete segment + situation (job context). Ask: “If we could win only one type of customer this quarter, who is the highest-leverage bet?”

Write it as → Segment Choice = [Who] + [Situation/Trigger] + [Decision-maker role]

(e.g., “10–50p marketing agencies, overwhelmed in approvals, Ops Director”).

If you choose to define two different segments, use a different color sticky note for each one.

List what they’re trying to get done in that situation. Separate Functional, Social, Emotional jobs.

Prompt yourself: “What must they accomplish? How do they want to be seen? How do they want to feel?”

Tag top-priority jobs with ⭐ (most valuable/urgent).

For the starred jobs, capture the pains that block progress: delays, errors, handoffs, tool sprawl, risk of looking bad to clients.

Use → Pain = [What goes wrong] + [Why it hurts] + [Frequency/Severity]. Mark the worst three with 🔥.

Types of User Pains

User pains can generally be categorized into a few broad types:

🛌 Functional Pains: These relate to the specific tasks users are trying to accomplish or the functional problems they encounter with current solutions. Examples include inefficiencies, poor usability, or missing functionality.

🤑 Financial Pains: These concern the costs associated with using a solution — whether monetary, time-related, or resource-intensive. Users may feel a product is too expensive, not worth the cost, or requires too much investment for the return it provides.

💁‍♀️🙋‍♂️🧑‍💼 Social Pains: These involve how a product or service affects a user’s social interactions or status. For example, users might worry about how using a product is perceived by others or feel it doesn’t align with their identity.

❤️ Emotional Pains: These relate to how users feel about their interactions with a product or service. They can include frustration with support, stress from complex interfaces, or anxiety about reliability.

🤫 Process Pains: These occur when existing solutions complicate workflows or processes. Users may be frustrated by poor integrations, steep learning curves, or cumbersome steps required to achieve results.

For the same jobs, write desired outcomes: faster approvals, fewer meetings, clearer ownership, “client sees progress without chasing.”

Use → Gain = [Outcome] + [Metric/Proof] + [Why it matters]. Vote top three.

💼 Functional Gains: These are improvements in how users complete their tasks or achieve their goals. They include increased efficiency, better usability, automation, or added features that simplify their work and make them more effective.

💰 Financial Gains: These relate to direct or indirect economic benefits — saving money, time, or resources. Users may value lower costs, faster ROI, reduced waste, or improved profitability.

💬 Social Gains: These gains enhance how users are perceived by others or how they see themselves. For example, using your product might make them look more professional, innovative, or reliable in their role or community.

💖 Emotional Gains: These focus on how users feel when interacting with your product. They include feelings of confidence, control, satisfaction, pride, or relief that things are finally “under control.”

⚙️ Process Gains: These arise when your solution makes workflows smoother, faster, or more intuitive. Users experience fewer steps, better integrations, clearer collaboration, and improved overall flow.

List the specific capabilities relevant to this segment & context (not your whole product). Then label each one as Gain Creator and/or Pain Reliever with a short “because” clause.

Formula → Feature → (Pain Reliever/Gain Creator) because [mechanism]. Remove anything not tied to a starred pain/gain.

🔗 Make the Fit Map (evidence-based)

For each link, add proof: metric, case, quote, or demo moment.

Ask: “Would a skeptical buyer believe this?” If not, tighten it.

Write 3 options using the formula and pick 1:

“We help [segment] achieve [#1 outcome] without [most hated pain], by [how we uniquely do it].”

Keep it ≤ 25 words. Test the “out loud” rule: if you wouldn’t say it to a friend, rewrite.

🔥Other formulas that you can use:

Type of value:

Create 3 pillars that back your value prop.

For each: Pillar = [Claim] + [Proof] + [Feature tie-in] + [Call-to-action].

Example: “Reduce approval chaos → 40% faster sign-offs (case) → workflow checkpoints → ‘See a live demo’.”

Important: 🧪 Define 3 Lean Tests (prove the fit quickly)

Pick the fastest ways to validate messaging:

Who are our customers, really?

What do our customers truly value?

What jobs are our customers trying to get done?

What pains are our customers experiencing?

What gains are our customers seeking?

How are current solutions underperforming for our customers?

How can we eliminate or reduce customer pains in ways others can’t?

How can we create gains that are superior to the competition?

What’s the minimum viable product (MVP) that would test our new value proposition?

How does our value proposition fit within broader industry trends?

What assumptions are we making about our customers and market?

How scalable is our value proposition?

🔥 These questions are designed to push your thinking and help you uncover new ways to add value for your customers. By exploring these areas thoroughly, you can craft a value proposition that not only meets current market needs but also anticipates and shapes future demand.

Download session data (Excel/CSV) or download the image and paste this into your AI tool to draft assets fast:

“Using this Value Proposition Canvas (segment, jobs, pains/gains, fit map, value prop, pillars), draft a one-page sales deck and a landing section (H1, subhead, 3 bullets, proof bar, CTA). Tone: confident B2B SaaS. Keep copy punchy. Include a short ‘Before vs After’ graphic cue.”

Upload your draft deck/page for review.

Add your direct competitor in the red column and substitute competitors inside the black and grey columns.

Follow our 5 dimensions to understand and evaluate your competitors. Product core Size of the user base Design Brand Speed How to monitor your competitors? Go to websites like crunchbase.com and keep track of their funding and the amount of money they have to hire people, invest in marketing, etc. Acquisition and partnership:** Companies they are buying or partnering with. New features:** Go to mention.com , follow your competitors on Angelist, _LinkedIn_, and social media and use google alerts to get notified when new search results are available.

Add any final thoughts on what this means for your competitive advantage and how you might move forward based on areas of low or high ratings.

Try to be specific. When you say: "we want to grow our business" define "grow your business"

A goal is a general statement of what you want to achieve in a specific time and for a specific reason. Examples of good business goals are:

A Business Objective helps turn the goal into a specific and quantifiable statement of what is going to be achieved and when it will be achieved.

Example:

These objectives are providing information about how are you going to measure success.

Start by choosing your primary posture: populate Leadership Strategy if defending market share or driving industry standards, or Follower Strategy if disrupting incumbents, capturing a niche, or optimizing unit economics.

Step 1: Set Strategic Posture

Step 2: Fill Out Leadership Strategy (Defend & Expand)

On-Going Investment (R&D and Marketing)

Define the following strategies

Vertical Integration & Price

Distribution Channels & Location

Relationship with Clients

Product / Service

Think of this board as your bridge from strategic intent to ground-level execution. We're moving from left to right, sharpening broad ambition into explicit ownership and immediate daily bets.

Goal (The Direction)

Start with the high-level outcome that moves the business needle—whether that's expanding profit margins, elevating client retention, or scaling monthly sales. Don't overcomplicate it.

Ask yourself: If anyone on the team reads this, do they instantly grasp where we are heading? Does it align with our core values?

Make sure it's clear enough to guide decisions, yet flexible enough to adapt if market conditions shift.

Objective (The Target)

Now, turn that broad intent into an explicit commit. A goal tells us the direction; the objective defines the exact boundary lines: what specific result is expected, when it must be completed, why it takes priority, and who holds ultimate accountability. Ensure the owner actually has the budget, tools, and team buy-in required to pull it off. If no single name is attached here, nobody owns it.

Metrics (The Scoreboard)

Define how we measure success without ambiguity or vanity metrics. Pick 1 to 3 key performance indicators that give you an objective, unfiltered view of progress—for instance, net revenue retention percentage, monthly qualified leads, or sprint velocity. Establish the baseline and the target number so the team shares one single source of truth.

Action Plan (The Execution Engine)

Map out the tactical initiatives that bridge the gap between where you are today and your target metric. List the concrete projects, experiments, or process changes required to win—such as running a specialized training program or conducting deep user interviews. Keep these focused and operational so your team knows exactly what needs to be built, tested, or executed this week.

What is the primary strategic goal you are looking to run through this framework right now?

You and your team/participants can start adding information on the board. We suggest to do research or talk to an industry expert and find information to have a better understanding of the environment and risks. Recommendation: everyone on the team should spend some time doing some research. The board includes 4 threat categories: Risks, Issues, Dependencies, and Assumptions. The definitions of each are below.

Risks: Events and that will impact your project or idea if these events happen. Risks are normally considered negative events, but we invite you to consider them as opportunities too. You will consider a risk a “Risk” when there are a lot of possibilities that might happen and the impact of this event on your project or idea can highly impact the outcome of your project. Every risk should include the risk, description, link to more information if applicable, analysis, and a plan to mitigate the risk. Issues: These are the things that are not going well in your project and need attention. Normally is related to project management. Some issues can affect the project, can be connected to dependencies, and reduce the likelihood to successfully complete a project. Every Issue needs to include the name of the issue, the description, links if applicable, and actions and recommendations to eliminate the issue or reduce the negative effects. Dependencies: An event that your project is dependent on. The most common dependencies are multiple preceding tasks or milestones that your project depends on. Every dependency needs to include the name of the dependency, the description, analysis, it also may include who needs to deliver and whom you are dependent on. Assumptions: Events and factors that you and your teams are assuming in order to consider your project possible and successful. You will include the title of the assumption, description, why you are assuming this, and the action or information in order to consider this assumption valid.

Ask your team to add, remove and edit information. Make sure everyone is on the same page and it’s understandable. Are the assumptions valid? Are the issues assumptions or current issues? Make any changes you and your team consider necessary. Recommendation: Have a meeting or phone call to discuss this session together.

https://nova-labs-1.s3.amazonaws.com/pub/m7zBRxwCLyoMXbHB5QdNojq-RA- RiskAnalysis.PNG

Use different sticky notes colors to organize those ideas/issues based on the risk or urgency. For example, the ones with high risk use orange sticky-notes.

Invite the team to think about solutions and ways to mitigate and reduce the likelihood of risk or an issue happening. You can also include contingencies. How could you change those high-risk sticky notes to become more controllable by your organization/group/community? Your team can decide differently and rearrange or add new notes in this step.

Include an action plan. What is the next step? How would you move forward and reduce risks?

We have 3 types of elements: Your organization's icon: You will use the blue icon to represent your organization. Stakeholders icons:** You will use the yellow icons to represent different stakeholders. If you need an additional one, you can add the name on a sticky note. Value icons:** You will use the round white icons to represent value.

Start mapping how value is being exchanged between different stakeholders and the different ways you exchange value. Take some time to map out your current ecosystem model. You will be able to explore new ideas later. This should take 10 to 30 min.

Explore and discuss possible new ecosystem models. Your goal is to develop an ecosystem that is sustainable and where all the stakeholders and players in the ecosystem deliver and receive value. Questions for inspiration: Are all of our stakeholders receiving a fair amount of value? What else could we offer? What stakeholders are essential for our organization, and how can we improve our relationship with them? What are we missing? Who can provide that value? What would we be willing to give them in exchange?

Start by brainstorming strategies that can help you grow. Add one idea per sticky note.

Think outside the box, and include even those ideas you've had in mind for a long time but have always put on hold. Once you have all the ideas, share them with the team to understand each one. Mark in red any sticky notes with ideas that can’t be prioritized at this point—perhaps because they interfere with other priorities or are outside your control.

Focus on those ideas your team can realistically pursue within the next 6 to 12 months to get started.

Now, move to the growth section and place each strategy you could prioritize into one of the phases of the sales funnel. Ask yourself:

💫👉Would this idea help increase our reach? Could implementing this activity help us reach more people?

💫Would this initiative encourage users to act, such as asking for more information, creating a free account, or joining a webinar?

👉Would this activity help convert potential clients into actual clients?

👏Would it increase engagement? Could it encourage clients to spend more?

Use the top section to discuss each point. Then, when ready, define which initiatives your team will prioritize in the next 90 days. List these in section number 2. Finally, add one to four activities in the right section, with "A" as priority number one, "B" as priority number two, and so on.

Define 1 or 4 projects or initiatives you would like to prioritize. (90 days or 1 year plan)

What is the purpose of this analysis? What are you trying to evaluate or find? What major challenges are you facing?

The SWOT tool is divided into internal and external factors.

Evaluate the following strategies:

Provide information about the market and this specific industry.

What do we accomplish? Consider target audience and the collective end goal.

How are your new users interacting with you? What do they like or dislike?

How are your new users converting into paying and long-term users? Define your conversion points and your blockers

What's the overall experience?

Reviewing feedback and insights from your current users or early adopters, what have you learned? What is important to them, and why are they choosing you? Why are they choosing you over the competition (or preferring your approach over their previous methods)? What obstacles are holding them back?

💢🕳💨What areas need improvement? What should be removed or added?

This is your time to reflect and consider how their insights can guide you in making better decisions.