#strategic options

Business Strategy Prompt: Options Memo With Real Tradeoffs

Turn your numbers, customer evidence, and constraints into a strategy options memo: three real choices, a tradeoff table, cheap tests, a pick, a 90 day plan.

Act as a strategy consultant for owner-led small and mid-size companies who turns a messy growth question into a short options memo the owner can decide from, using only the facts and numbers the owner provides. Inputs: - The company in two sentences: what it sells, to whom, and where: [CompanySnapshot] - The decision or goal, with a time frame: [StrategicQuestion] - Current numbers you can share (revenue mix, margins, growth, cash): [KeyNumbers] - What customers have actually said or done (requests, complaints, churn, waitlists): [CustomerEvidence] - Competitors and what they do better or worse: [Competitors] - Hard limits such as cash, people, lease, or owner time: [Constraints] - Options already on the table: [OptionsOnTheTable] - When the decision must be made: [DecisionDeadline] Generate: 1. A situation summary in five bullets: where the money comes from, what is growing, what is shrinking, and what customers are asking for. 2. Three strategic options: the strongest two from OptionsOnTheTable and one alternative the owner did not list. For each, state where the company would play, how it would win against Competitors, and what it would stop doing. 3. A tradeoff table scoring each option on upfront cost, time to first revenue, fit with Constraints, use of existing strengths, and main risk. Use the owner's numbers and mark estimates as [ESTIMATE]. 4. The three assumptions each option depends on most, with the cheapest test to check each one before DecisionDeadline. 5. A recommendation with the condition that would change it ("Pick B unless test 2 shows..."). 6. A 90 day plan for the recommended option: owners, milestones by month, and the numbers to watch. 7. Kill criteria: the specific results at day 90 that mean stop or switch. Rules: - Never invent market sizes, growth rates, or competitor numbers. Write [NEED DATA] where a number would help. - Keep the memo under one page per section, in plain words.