strategic-frameworks

name	strategic-frameworks
description	Use when the user wants to think through business strategy, validate assumptions, identify risks, define success metrics, or analyze market forces. Also use when the user mentions 'Lean Canvas', 'North Star metric', 'pre-mortem', 'PESTLE', 'Ansoff Matrix', "Porter's Five Forces", 'Opportunity Solution Tree', or 'strategic planning'.

Strategic Frameworks

Seven frameworks for strategic thinking — from business model validation to market analysis. Use the right tool for the question at hand.

Framework Selection Guide

Question	Framework
Is this business model viable?	Lean Canvas
What should we build next?	Opportunity Solution Tree
What could go wrong with this plan?	Pre-Mortem
How do we measure success?	North Star Metric
What external forces affect us?	PESTLE
Which markets should we enter?	Ansoff Matrix
How strong is our competitive position?	Porter's Five Forces

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1. Lean Canvas

Use for: Business model validation before building.

Adapted from Business Model Canvas. Replaces "Key Partners" with "Problem" and "Key Activities" with "Solution" to focus on risk, not operations.

9 blocks to fill in order:

1. Problem — Top 3 problems you're solving. Existing alternatives your customers use today.
2. Customer Segments — Who has this problem. Early adopters specifically.
3. Unique Value Proposition — Why you're different. "The only X that does Y without Z."
4. Solution — Top 3 features. Match one-to-one with problems.
5. Channels — How you reach customers. Free vs. paid, inbound vs. outbound.
6. Revenue Streams — How you make money. Pricing model and lifetime value.
7. Cost Structure — Your biggest costs. Fixed vs. variable.
8. Key Metrics — 2-3 numbers that tell you if the business is working.
9. Unfair Advantage — What cannot be easily copied or bought.

Fill the canvas in 20 minutes. Then identify your riskiest assumption and test it first.

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2. Opportunity Solution Tree

Use for: Deciding what to build next.

Desired Outcome (the one metric that matters)
  └ Opportunity 1 (customer problem or unmet need)
      └ Solution A
      └ Solution B
  └ Opportunity 2
      └ Solution C
      └ Solution D

Rules:

• Start with ONE desired outcome. The tree collapses if you have two at the top.
• Opportunities come from customer research, not product ideas. Talk to customers before filling in opportunities.
• Solutions are hypotheses, not commitments. Map multiple solutions per opportunity.
• Pick the opportunity-solution pair with the best evidence and highest expected value.

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3. Pre-Mortem

Use for: Identifying risks before a plan is executed.

Exercise (60 minutes with the team):

1. Imagine it is 12 months from now. The project has failed.
2. Each person writes 3-5 reasons it failed (individually, before group discussion).
3. Share all reasons. Group into themes.
4. For each theme: What is the probability? What is the impact? What mitigation exists?
5. Update the plan with mitigations for the top 3 risks.

Why it works: Prospective hindsight (imagining failure has already occurred) increases identification of correct reasons for failure by 30% (Klein, 2007).

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4. North Star Metric

Use for: Aligning a team on a single measure of success.

Criteria for a good North Star Metric:

• It captures the core value delivered to customers (not just revenue)
• It predicts long-term revenue better than revenue itself
• It is understandable to everyone in the company
• It can be influenced by product decisions

Examples by business type:

Business	North Star Metric
Social network	Daily active users
SaaS productivity	Weekly active teams
Marketplace	Successful transactions per month
Media / content	Total reading time per week
E-commerce	Repeat purchase rate

Input metrics (leading indicators that drive the NSM): For each North Star Metric, define 3-5 input metrics that teams can directly influence.

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5. PESTLE Analysis

Use for: Understanding the macro environment before entering a market.

Factor	Questions to answer
Political	How stable is the government? What regulations are pending? Trade policies?
Economic	GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, consumer spending trends.
Social	Demographics, cultural attitudes, education levels, lifestyle changes.
Technological	Emerging tech, R&D activity, automation, tech adoption rate.
Legal	Current laws affecting the industry (GDPR, PCI, employment law, IP).
Environmental	Climate regulations, sustainability expectations, supply chain risk.

Output: Rank each factor by Impact (High/Med/Low) and Trend Direction (↑/→/↓). Focus strategy on High Impact × Moving factors.

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6. Ansoff Matrix

Use for: Deciding which growth strategy to pursue.

	Existing Products	New Products
Existing Markets	Market Penetration (lowest risk)	Product Development
New Markets	Market Development	Diversification (highest risk)

Risk order (lowest to highest): Market Penetration < Product Development < Market Development < Diversification

Guideline: Exhaust market penetration before moving to adjacent quadrants. Most companies move too fast to new markets before saturating existing ones.

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7. Porter's Five Forces

Use for: Assessing the structural attractiveness of an industry before entering.

Force	High threat when...	Implication
Threat of New Entrants	Low capital requirements, no switching costs	Incumbents can't sustain margins
Bargaining Power of Suppliers	Few suppliers, high switching costs	Suppliers extract margin
Bargaining Power of Buyers	Many alternatives, low switching costs	Buyers extract margin
Threat of Substitutes	Alternative products meet the same need differently	Price ceiling on your product
Competitive Rivalry	Many similar-sized competitors, slow growth	Margin compression, price wars

Score each force 1–5 (1 = low threat, 5 = high threat). Sum < 15 = attractive industry. Sum > 20 = structurally difficult.

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Common Rationalizations

Rationalization	Reality
"We don't need frameworks, we know our business"	Frameworks force explicit assumptions. Unstated assumptions don't get challenged until they're wrong.
"The pre-mortem is too negative"	It's cheaper to find failure modes in a meeting than in production.
"We have multiple North Star Metrics"	Two north stars means no north star. Pick one.
"Porter's analysis says it's unattractive, but we'll differentiate"	Differentiation is a strategy, not an answer to structural forces. Know what you're competing against.