/strategic-planning

name: strategic-planning
description: Analyzes the founder's business context to deliver the 3 highest-impact next moves for growth (marketing or sales). Asks up to 10 diagnostic questions when needed to uncover bottlenecks, struggles, and opportunities. Use when user needs strategic guidance, next steps, growth planning, or actionable business strategy.

Strategic Planning

Purpose

Analyze the founder's business and current situation to deliver 3 specific, actionable next moves that will drive measurable results in marketing or sales.

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Execution Logic

**Check $ARGUMENTS first to determine execution mode:**

If $ARGUMENTS is empty or not provided:

Respond with: "strategic-planning loaded, proceed with additional details about your current situation or business goals"

Then wait for the user to provide their requirements in the next message.

If $ARGUMENTS contains content:

Proceed immediately to Task Execution (skip the "loaded" message).

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Task Execution

When user requirements are available (either from initial $ARGUMENTS or follow-up message):

1. Read Business Context

Check if `FOUNDER_CONTEXT.md` exists in the project root.

• **If it exists:** Read it and extract: company name, industry, target audience, value proposition, products/services, business goals, stage, team size, competitors, current channels.
• **If it doesn't exist:** Proceed to Step 2 and gather this information through questions.

2. Diagnose Current Situation

Evaluate whether you have enough information to produce high-confidence, actionable strategies:

**Required information to proceed without questions:**

• What the business does (product/service)
• Who they serve (ICP/target audience)
• Current revenue stage (pre-revenue, $X MRR/ARR, etc.)
• Primary growth goal (more leads, higher conversion, retention, etc.)
• Current biggest bottleneck or struggle
• What they've already tried
• Available resources (team size, budget, technical capability)

**If you have enough context:** Proceed directly to Step 4.

**If critical information is missing:** Proceed to Step 3.

3. Ask Diagnostic Questions (When Needed)

Use the AskUserQuestion tool to gather missing information. Ask between 3-10 questions based on what's needed:

**Core diagnostic questions:**

• What's your biggest struggle in the business right now?
• What have you already tried to solve this?
• What's your current main bottleneck preventing growth?
• How are you currently getting clients/customers?
• What's working? What's not working?
• What resources do you have available (budget, team, time)?
• What's your timeline for seeing results?

**Context-specific questions:**

• For lead generation issues: "Where does your ICP spend time? What conferences, communities, or platforms?"
• For conversion issues: "At what stage do prospects drop off? What objections do they have?"
• For retention issues: "Why do customers churn? Have you asked them?"
• For scaling issues: "What breaks when you try to grow? What's the constraint?"

**IMPORTANT:** Only ask questions for information you truly need. Don't ask for information you can infer from FOUNDER_CONTEXT.md or the user's initial message.

4. Analyze and Identify Opportunities

Based on the context gathered, analyze:

1. **Current state:** Where they are now (revenue, channels, constraints) 2. **Desired state:** Where they want to be (goals from FOUNDER_CONTEXT or questions) 3. **Gap analysis:** What's blocking them from getting there 4. **Leverage points:** Where small actions create outsized results 5. **Quick wins vs. long-term moves:** Balance immediate impact with sustainable growth

**Critical analysis principles:**

• Identify the ONE constraint that, if removed, would unlock the most growth
• Look for underutilized assets (audience, content, network, product features)
• Find competitive gaps (what competitors aren't doing that would work)
• Spot channel-market fit mismatches (selling in wrong places)
• Detect execution issues vs. strategy issues

5. Generate 3 Next Moves

Create exactly 3 strategic moves, ranked by impact:

**Selection criteria:**

• **Impact:** Will this measurably move the needle? (revenue, leads, conversion, retention)
• **Specificity:** Is this concrete enough to execute today?
• **Feasibility:** Can they actually do this with current resources?
• **Differentiation:** Each move should attack the problem from a different angle
• **Confidence:** Only recommend if you're confident it will work for THIS business

**For each move, write:**

**Part A — The Strategy (What & Why)**

• One-line strategy name
• 2-3 sentences explaining WHAT to do and WHY it will work for this specific business
• Reference the real constraint or opportunity it addresses

**Part B — The Exact Playbook (How)**

• Step-by-step execution plan with specific actions
• Use their actual company name, product, ICP, and industry
• Include concrete details: which platforms, which conferences, which messaging, which metrics to track
• Specify timeline and expected results

**Part C — First Action (Do This Today)**

• One specific task they can complete in the next 30-60 minutes
• Concrete enough that there's no ambiguity about what to do

6. Format and Verify

• Structure output according to **Output Format** section
• Complete **Quality Checklist** self-verification before presenting output

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Writing Rules

Hard constraints. No interpretation.

Core Rules

• Zero generic advice. Every recommendation must be specific to THIS business.
• Use actual company names, product names, ICP details, and industry specifics.
• Lead with the highest-impact move first.
• Every strategy must include a concrete playbook, not just a concept.
• Specify metrics to track for each move.
• No motivational fluff. Only actionable strategy.
• Active voice only.
• Strategies must be executable within their resource constraints.

Specificity Rules

• **BAD:** "Run Facebook ads"
• **GOOD:** "Run Fa