AI Skill Report Card
Advising Strategic Growth
Quick Start14 / 15
When given a business situation, decision, or growth question, produce a structured strategic advisory output with four sections: Strategic Analysis, Opportunity Map, Roadmap, and Decision Recommendation.
Example prompt: "We're a logistics startup considering whether to expand into last-mile delivery for groceries or double down on B2B freight."
Immediately produce the four-section output below — don't ask clarifying questions unless the input is too vague to analyze at all (e.g., missing industry, goal, or constraints).
Recommendation▾
Add a second example with a different scenario (e.g., a mature enterprise pivot or platform expansion) to show adaptability across contexts, not just one startup case.
Workflow14 / 15
Progress:
- Step 1: Identify the core strategic question and constraints (resources, timeline, market position)
- Step 2: Analyze current position — strengths, leverage points, risks
- Step 3: Map opportunities by impact vs. effort/feasibility
- Step 4: Sequence a roadmap (near/mid/long-term horizons)
- Step 5: Deliver a clear, committed recommendation with rationale
Step-by-step
- Clarify the strategic frame — restate the decision or growth question in one sentence, and note the implicit constraints (capital, time, competitive pressure).
- Strategic Analysis — assess:
- Current leverage points (assets, data, network effects, brand, distribution)
- Structural risks (dependency, market timing, competitive moat erosion)
- Where the org has disproportionate advantage vs. where it's competing on even ground
- Opportunity Map — list 3-6 opportunities, each scored on:
- Impact (High/Medium/Low)
- Feasibility (High/Medium/Low)
- Strategic fit with existing leverage
- Tag each as "Core," "Adjacent," or "Ecosystem/Transformational"
- Roadmap — sequence into horizons:
- Horizon 1 (0-6 months): quick wins, foundation-building
- Horizon 2 (6-18 months): scaling core leverage
- Horizon 3 (18+ months): ecosystem expansion, new bets
- Decision Recommendation — commit to a specific recommendation, not a menu of options. State the "why," the key risk, and the one metric/signal that would trigger a strategy pivot.
Recommendation▾
Include a brief edge-case guidance for when input is too vague (what a clarifying question should look like) since the Quick Start mentions this but never demonstrates it.
Examples15 / 20
Example 1: Input: "Logistics startup deciding between grocery last-mile delivery vs. doubling down on B2B freight."
Output:
Strategic Analysis
- Leverage: Existing fleet utilization and route density in B2B freight is a real moat; grocery delivery requires new density from scratch.
- Risk: B2B freight has thinner margins and customer concentration risk (top 3 clients = 60% revenue).
- Ecosystem angle: Grocery delivery opens consumer-facing data and brand, but dilutes operational focus.
Opportunity Map
- Deepen B2B freight contracts (Impact: High, Feasibility: High, Fit: Core)
- Launch grocery pilot in 1 city (Impact: Medium, Feasibility: Medium, Fit: Adjacent)
- White-label routing tech to other logistics firms (Impact: High, Feasibility: Medium, Fit: Ecosystem)
- Full grocery vertical build-out (Impact: High, Feasibility: Low, Fit: Transformational)
Roadmap
- Horizon 1: Diversify B2B client base to reduce concentration risk; run a small grocery delivery pilot in one metro.
- Horizon 2: Scale B2B freight into 2 new verticals; evaluate pilot data before committing capital to grocery.
- Horizon 3: If pilot signal is strong, spin up grocery as a separate business unit; if not, license routing tech as a new revenue line.
Decision Recommendation
Double down on B2B freight while running a low-cost grocery pilot as an option, not a bet. The core leverage (route density, fleet efficiency) is strongest in freight, and client concentration risk is fixable without new market entry. Trigger for pivot: if pilot shows >30% repeat usage within 90 days at acceptable unit economics, escalate grocery to Horizon 2 priority.
Recommendation▾
Consider adding a short template/skeleton for the four-section output separate from the worked example, so Claude has a clean reusable scaffold to fill in.
Best Practices
- Always tie opportunities back to existing leverage — growth that ignores current strengths is expensive growth.
- Be decisive in the final recommendation. Executives want a stance, not a balanced list of pros/cons.
- Use time-boxed horizons (not vague "short/long term") so the roadmap is actionable.
- Name the specific metric or signal that would change the recommendation — strategy without a pivot trigger is not actionable.
- Keep language crisp and board-ready; avoid jargon padding.
Common Pitfalls
- Don't present options without a recommendation — "it depends" is not strategic advice.
- Don't list opportunities without scoring impact/feasibility — unscored lists aren't a map.
- Don't ignore resource constraints when sequencing the roadmap; an aggressive roadmap with no funding plan is fiction.
- Don't conflate "ecosystem expansion" with "unrelated diversification" — ecosystem moves should still connect to core leverage.