What is your company or brand name?

This establishes the subject of the strategy and how the brand will be referred to.

e.g. Notion — or describe your situation if the name is TBC.

What is your website?

Helps understand current positioning and messaging.

e.g. notion.so — or write “pre-launch” if not live yet.

How large is your team today?

Team size provides context for scale, culture, and strategic ambition.

e.g. 12 people — include founders, employees, and core collaborators.

What is your current annual recurring revenue?

Revenue stage influences how bold or focused the strategy should be.

e.g. $1.2M ARR — or write “pre-revenue”.

What stage is the company at today?

Brand strategy should reflect the company’s stage and growth trajectory.

e.g. Seed funded with an early product and 500 active users.

Why did this company need to exist?

Often reveals the deeper purpose and conviction behind the business.

e.g. Design teams could not collaborate effectively across different tools.

What felt broken or unfair before this company existed?

Great brands often emerge from challenging something broken.

e.g. Design files were constantly emailed instead of shared live.

If the company succeeds, what positive change will exist because of it?

Helps define the brand’s long-term impact and vision.

e.g. Teams will collaborate on product design as easily as editing a shared document.

What would feel personally disappointing if this company failed?

Reveals founder motivation and emotional commitment.

e.g. If design collaboration remained fragmented.

What does success look like in the next 12 to 18 months?

Strategy should support near-term business goals.

e.g. 20,000 active users and adoption by major product teams.

In 10 years, what would you love the company to be known for?

Defines the brand’s long-term reputation.

e.g. The platform that redefined collaborative product design.

Describe your ideal customer. Who are they, what do they do, and what does their world look like?

A clear picture of the ideal customer shapes every positioning and messaging decision.

e.g. A founder of a seed-stage climate tech company with a small team, early traction, and a first fundraise on the horizon.

Who is your primary customer today?

Positioning becomes clear when the audience is clearly defined.

e.g. Product designers working in fast-growing SaaS companies.

What problem feels most urgent or frustrating for them?

Strategy should be anchored around real customer pressure.

e.g. Sharing design changes across teams is slow and confusing.

What keeps them stuck or dissatisfied today?

Identifies the tension your brand must resolve.

e.g. Too many disconnected tools.

If your product worked perfectly, what would change in their world?

Helps define the ultimate value the brand promises.

e.g. Design collaboration would happen in real time.

What do people do today instead of using your product?

Your real competition is often existing habits.

e.g. Using Google Docs and Slack together.

What makes customers hesitate before choosing something like yours?

Reveals barriers the brand must overcome.

e.g. Migrating existing work feels risky.

List your direct competitors. Who are the companies solving the same problem in the same way?

Direct competitors define the immediate landscape your brand must stand apart from.

e.g. Figma, Sketch — tools focused on collaborative interface design.

List your indirect competitors. Who are the alternatives customers might use instead, even if different in approach?

Indirect competitors reveal the broader context your brand competes in — often including habits, tools, or workarounds.

e.g. Google Slides, Notion — not design tools, but used to fill the same gap.

Why do customers choose you over alternatives?

Helps identify perceived advantages.

e.g. Our tool enables real-time collaboration.

What do you genuinely do better than competitors?

This often becomes the brand’s strategic focus.

e.g. Speed and simplicity of collaboration.

What would be hardest for a competitor to copy?

Identifies sustainable advantages.

e.g. Our proprietary collaboration architecture.

What category do you believe you are in today?

Category context shapes positioning.

e.g. Collaborative design software.

Is there a category you want to redefine or lead?

Some brands win by creating a new category.

e.g. Real-time design collaboration platforms.

What signals suggest your approach works?

Evidence strengthens credibility.

e.g. Users spend several hours a day in the product.

If your brand were a person, how would you describe them?

Defines the brand’s personality and behaviour.

e.g. Calm, thoughtful, precise.

How should your brand sound when communicating?

Shapes tone of voice and messaging style.

e.g. Expert but approachable.

Are there words or clichés you want to avoid?

Prevents generic messaging.

e.g. “Game-changing”, “disruptive”.

What should the brand help your team do better?

Brands also guide internal decisions.

e.g. Help us hire people who value craftsmanship.

Where does the current brand feel unclear or misaligned?

Highlights problems the strategy should fix.

e.g. Our messaging does not clearly explain the product.

Share links to brands, websites, or products that inspire you.

Provides visual and tonal references for the brand direction.

e.g. stripe.com — clarity and developer-focused communication.

Share links to brands you actively dislike or want to avoid.

Helps avoid stylistic or tonal directions that feel wrong.

e.g. Over-hyped crypto marketing sites with exaggerated claims.

What major trends are shaping your category?

Strategy must align with industry shifts.

e.g. AI tools transforming software development.

What assumptions does the industry take for granted?

Challenging assumptions creates differentiation.

e.g. Developers must manually write production code.

What frustrates customers about the current category?

Frustrations reveal opportunities for disruption.

e.g. AI coding tools generate large amounts of unusable code.

What competing pressures does your customer face?

Great positioning often resolves tensions.

e.g. Speed of development vs maintainability.

What change do you believe needs to happen in this category?

Defines the brand’s broader mission.

e.g. Programming tools should preserve human intent.

What outdated thinking should disappear?

Strong brands often oppose the status quo.

e.g. Developers must write every line of code manually.

Where does your approach challenge conventional thinking?

Reveals the brand’s strategic edge.

e.g. Programming should centre on intent rather than code.

What uncomfortable truth about the category do you believe is real?

Strong insights often come from uncomfortable truths.

e.g. Most AI coding tools create technical debt.