Business strategy

Analyses a business model canvas and its unit economics to find the weakest assumptions and design a cheap test for each. Use before investing more time or money in a model.

Assesses taking on a contract that would become a large share of revenue - concentration, payment terms, capacity and what happens if it ends - and sets the conditions to accept it safely.

Compares options for a charity considering a merger - collaboration, shared services, merger or planned closure - on mission, beneficiaries, money, people and governance, with questions for advisers.

Assesses whether a business has a durable competitive advantage, testing each claimed moat against evidence and naming how to strengthen the real ones.

Assesses whether an owner's business could be franchised - replicability, unit economics with room for a fee, systems, brand and support costs - against company-owned growth or licensing.

Builds an annual operating plan with priorities, targets, budget and headcount by function, quarterly milestones and a review cadence, tied to the strategy. Use for yearly planning.

Builds a theory of change for a nonprofit programme - long-term outcome, preconditions, activities, assumptions and indicators - working backwards, and points out weak causal links.

Helps a tradesperson decide whether to specialise (heat pumps, rewires, kitchens, roofs) or stay general on demand, margin, skills and certification, competition and a test before committing.

Decides whether a small business should do an activity itself or outsource it - baking, laundry, bookkeeping, delivery, marketing - on full cost, quality control, capacity, skills and risk.

Compares delivery apps, own drivers, collection-only and no delivery for a restaurant or takeaway on margin per order, kitchen load and customer ownership, and recommends a channel mix.

Decides whether to keep, fix or close an underperforming shop, branch or unit - contribution after its own costs, lease exit, staff, customers who may move - with a time-boxed turnaround test.

Designs pricing and packaging - value metric, tiers, fences and anchors - from customer value rather than cost, with a plan to test willingness to pay. Use when launching or repricing a product.

Compares revenue models - subscription, usage-based, transaction, marketplace, advertising or hybrid - against how a product creates value and how customers buy, and recommends one.

Drafts a Wardley map in text form from a user need and its value chain, places each component by evolution stage and highlights strategic moves and build-versus-buy calls.

Draws a blue-ocean strategy canvas comparing a business with the alternatives customers use, then applies eliminate-reduce-raise-create to find a distinct value curve.

Estimates TAM, SAM and SOM bottom-up with explicit assumptions and low-base-high ranges, then cross-checks top-down. Use for a pitch, a business plan or a go/no-go on a new market.

Evaluates a franchise territory offer - target customers, competitors and nearby units, drive times, rents and realistic sales against the franchisor's figures - with questions to push back on.

Evaluates adding a service or product line to a small business - demand checks, skills and licences, costs, pricing and margin, capacity and cannibalisation - and ends with a pilot plan and decision.

Acts as an independent franchise consultant who advises buyers and franchisors on territories, unit economics, disclosure documents, support and fees, and is blunt about weak systems.

Acts as a revenue manager for small hotels, restaurants and venues who thinks in demand periods, channels, rate fences, covers and spend per head, and keeps pricing defensible to guests.

Acts as a management consultant who frames problems hypothesis-first, breaks them into MECE issue trees and answers with the so-what before the supporting detail.

Maps growth options across market penetration, new products, new markets and diversification, with risks, evidence needed and a recommended sequence.

Refreshes a small business strategy once a year in gated steps - review the year, generate options, choose priorities, plan and budget, then brief the staff.

Matches the strategy tool to the question an owner actually has - SWOT, five forces, business model canvas, pricing, scenario planning - and walks through the chosen one in plain words.

Plans preparing a small business for sale - value drivers, clean-up tasks, likely buyer types, a timeline and which advisers to involve when.

Plans succession for a family or owner-led business - candidates, readiness gaps, handover phases, governance and how to talk with the family and staff.

Plans how a courier or delivery firm grows - more vans and employed drivers, owner-drivers, subcontracting or declining work - compared on cost per drop, reliability and cash.

Evaluates diversification options for a farm such as a farm shop, agritourism, events or processing, scoring demand, investment, permissions, labour and risk, and ends with a low-cost pilot plan.

Builds a seasonal rate calendar for a small hotel, inn or B&B from last year's occupancy - demand periods, events, minimum stays, rate fences and a direct-booking advantage.

Plans entering a new country or customer segment - attractiveness, entry mode, localisation, regulatory checks, go-to-market and phases with kill criteria. Use when a company is expanding.

Decides how much to raise prices and on which items after costs go up, for a cafe, salon, trade or shop - margin effect, sales you can afford to lose, rounding and timing.

Plans whether and how to open a second shop, cafe, salon or clinic - readiness tests, site criteria, money questions for an adviser, the systems and manager needed, and a go or no-go list.

Designs a leadership strategy offsite - pre-work, a timed agenda, decision sessions, facilitation methods, and the outputs and follow-up the team leaves with.

Prices a commercial cleaning contract from site size, tasks, frequency and production rates - labour, on-costs, consumables, travel, supervision and margin - with a bid price and assumptions.

Prices a salon or barber menu from cost per chair hour, product cost and stylist level, flags services that lose money and suggests a simpler menu with add-ons.

Prioritises a portfolio of strategic initiatives on impact, strategic fit, cost, risk and dependencies, then recommends what to stop, start, continue and how to sequence it within capacity.

Finds what in a small business only works because the owner does it - relationships, pricing, problem-solving, skills - and plans how to document, delegate and test it with the owner away.

Runs a Porter's five forces analysis of an industry from supplied evidence, rates each force with its drivers, and turns the result into strategic implications and open questions.

Plans a walkround of nearby competitors for a shop, cafe or salon with what to observe and a visit sheet, then turns the visit notes into two or three moves.

Runs a PESTLE analysis of a market from supplied evidence, rates each factor's impact and timing, and turns the most important ones into strategic questions.

Builds three or four plausible futures from the key uncertainties, stress-tests the current strategy against each, and names early signals and no-regret moves. Use when planning under uncertainty.

Runs a SWOT analysis grounded in the evidence you supply and turns it into strategic implications and priorities, not just four lists. Use before a strategy review or a big bet.

Runs a yearly health check for a small business across customers, money, people, operations, risk and the owner's own load, scoring each with evidence and choosing the top three fixes.

Drafts OKRs with measurable, outcome-based key results, catching outputs disguised as outcomes, missing baselines and too many objectives. Use when planning a team's quarter or half.

Tests whether a service business can take more work before marketing for it - chairs, covers, vans, crews, rooms - finding the constraint, the real headroom and what it costs to lift it.

Plays a named rival in a turn-based wargame - the user makes a move such as a price cut or new location, the rival responds realistically, and the debrief shows which moves hold up.

Writes a three-year strategy for a small charity or community group - need, mission check, priorities, what to stop, resources and measures - in a short form trustees can approve.

Interviews an owner one question at a time, then writes a one-page strategy - who the business serves, why they choose it, where it will not play, three priorities and the numbers to watch.