ClarityStage 1 of 9
What is it, and who is it for?
Most ideas are three ideas wearing a coat. Clarity separates them, then makes you pick one to go first.
What we put in
Not "who is your customer", which you will answer with the one you had in mind. Every audience you could serve, scored on how badly they need it, whether they can pay, whether you can reach them, and whether you are the right person to do it. The fourth is the one founders never ask themselves, and it is the one that decides whether you will still be doing this in a year.
You end up with: A one-page view of the business and the customer it serves first.
CompetitionStage 2 of 9
Why would anyone pick me?
You are not competing with the businesses you admire. You are competing with whatever your customer does today, which is usually nothing.
What we put in
What they do instead, including nothing, which almost nobody puts on their own list and which wins more often than any rival. Then the harder one: what will you do differently, in your own words, now you have seen it. Not a table of competitors. A changed offer, written down, which everything after this is tested against.
You end up with: A real list of alternatives, and a difference you have decided on.
ValidateStage 3 of 9
Will this actually work?
The point of this stage is to be able to hear no. It tests the offer as Competition changed it, against research, your own customer conversations and the numbers.
What we put in
The questions pointed at the evidence against. Where did your proof come from, and was it people who already know you. What would have to be true for this to fail. It can come back and tell you to pause, and it is written to, because a stage that can only ever say yes is a stage that tells you nothing.
You end up with: An evidence report, and a verdict you can act on.
BrandStage 4 of 9
How do I get it to look and sound right?
Looking like one business rather than six is most of what separates somebody trading from somebody thinking about it.
What we put in
Whether the positioning says anything your competitors could not also say. Most first drafts do not, and the test is not whether it sounds good: it is whether anybody would claim the opposite. What comes out is one set, held, so everything you send afterwards is written to the same voice rather than to whatever you asked for that morning.
You end up with: A purpose, a voice, colours, type and a logo that stay put.
MVPStage 5 of 9
What is the smallest version worth testing?
Almost everybody builds too much. This scopes the smallest thing that could tell you something real.
What we put in
Which assumption this is testing, before anything about what it does. Then what result would be bad enough to stop you. Asked for a scope and nothing else, any model will give you a tidy one for whatever you described, including the eighteen-month version you should not build.
You end up with: A first version, and the one signal that decides what happens next.
LegalStage 6 of 9
What do I have to sort before I can trade?
The unglamorous, load-bearing work: structure, a trading address, the essentials, and the customer-facing legals your kind of business actually needs.
What we put in
What an accountant asks, in the order they ask it, for a UK business. Your exposure, who you are trading with, what you want on a public register and what you can live with. Asked cold, this is the subject where answers drift American and go quietly out of date, which is the worst way for legal information to be wrong.
You end up with: The setup decisions made, recorded, and the essentials in place.
PlanStage 7 of 9
What is the plan, and do the numbers work?
A plan is only worth having if somebody could argue with it.
What we put in
What each number rests on, every time, so the forecast arrives with its assumptions showing rather than as three confident years. Change one and watch the rest move. A plan whose workings are hidden reads beautifully and cannot be challenged, which is the same as being wrong where nobody can see it.
You end up with: A business plan, a three year forecast, and dated milestones.
LaunchStage 8 of 9
How do people find me?
Being findable is a different job from being ready. This gets a page live, on your own domain, with an email that does not land in spam.
What we put in
What one thing you want a visitor to do, and who the page is not for. Both are harder than they sound and both are what make a page work. Then it does it: the domain bought, the page published, the email set up, so the stage ends with a link you can send somebody rather than copy you still have to act on.
You end up with: A live landing page, your domain, and a working business email.
GrowStage 9 of 9
How do I get my first customers?
Most marketing advice is written for businesses with an audience and a budget. This is written for one person with a diary.
What we put in
Where your customers already gather, what you have tried and how it went, and what would make six months a success. That last one stops the plan optimising for reach, which is the wrong target for most people here: a consultancy with room for eighteen clients a year does not need an audience, and no generic channel list knows that.
You end up with: A marketing plan with channels, a rhythm and what to measure.
