The stupidly simple strategy framework

Most people treat strategy like its a uni assignment.

They focus on word count over substance...churning out a 50-page doc, complex diagrams, and words like 'synergy' as a security blanket to mask the fact that they don't actually know what to do.

But the thing is If you can't explain your strategy to succinctly in under 3 minutes, you don't have a strategy.

The 3-Question Test

So how do you know if you actually have a strategy?

Ask yourself or better, ask your team these three questions:

1. What are we doing?
2. What are the goals?
3. How do we get there?

You can apply this to your business strategy, a marketing plan or even just how to win your first 5-10 customers.

If everyone can answer all three clearly and consistently, you have a strategy.
If they can't, or if the answers vary wildly, you have a wish list. No amount of PowerPoint slides will fix that.

So what is strategy, really?

Strategy is simply just a boring plan and your case for why you'll win using this plan. It's not a wish list or a forecast; it's a clear, linear case for how you'll reshape the market in your favour.

...

That's it 🤷‍♂️

What bad strategy looks like

Before we look at how to write it, let's be honest about what bad strategy looks like. Most of what gets called "strategy" is just corporate noise.

1. The "Dog's Breakfast"
"We will increase revenue by 20%, launch 3 new features, and grow the team to 15 people."

That is not a strategy. That is a wish list. It tells you what you want, but not how to get there or why it will happen.

2. The "Vomit"
The 50-slide deck. It has a SWOT analysis, a PESTLE analysis, and three different types of quadrants.

If you can't memorize it, you can't execute it. Complexity is often where bad strategy goes to hide. Don't get me wrong, all these things are important but it is not THE strategy; these are tools you use to develop the strategy.

3. The "Buzzword Salad"
"We will leverage AI-driven technologies to disrupt the paradigm and deliver best-in-class solutions."

This means nothing. If you can swap your company name with a competitor's and the sentence still makes sense, you don't have a strategy.

4. The "Layer Cake"
"We're going to have the best product AND the best price AND the best service."

If you're not saying "no" to something, you're not making a choice. And strategy is choosing. The companies that try to be everything to everyone end up being nothing to anyone.

5. The "X for Y" (The Copy-Paste)*

We're going to be the Uber for Dog Walking" or "We'll just do what Atlassian did."

I saw this all the time after I left Uber. Founders would pitch me: "We're going to do UberEATS, but better. A more local flavor. A different model for drivers."

You can't copy-paste a strategy from a different market or a different decade. Strategy is specific to *your* context. What worked for Uber in 2015 might kill you in 2025.

The Ultimate Test:
If you deleted your strategy document tomorrow, would anyone do anything differently on Monday? If the answer is "no," it's not a strategy. You have... a tragedy (sorry lol, I couldn't resist)

The Framework

Over the years, I've codified how I think about strategy into 4 parts. But here's what most people overlook: strategy has two distinct phases. And you're a bit like a doctor that diagnoses you before you prescribe medicine or a treatment.

Phase 1: Diagnosis (Understand the problem)
Parts 1-2. You diagnose the market's illness before you prescribe the cure.

Phase 2: Strategy (Build your answer)
Parts 3-4. You find your unique insight and turn it into action.

Most founders skip Phase 1 entirely. They jump straight to solutions without understanding the problem. That's not strategy. That's guessing.

The Core Philosophy:

1. Strategy is found, not created. You don't invent it in a boardroom; you find it by diagnosing the market. You talk to customers until you find the pattern that everyone else has missed.
2. Complexity is a mask. If a strategy requires a 40-slide deck to explain, it's usually hiding a lack of focus.
3. Diagnosis before Prescription. We must diagnose the market's illness (the problem) before we prescribe the cure (your product).

Here's how it works:

Part 1: The situation (the status quo)

What is the market reality?

This isn’t about you. It’s about the world your customer lives in. What is the standard operating procedure right now? We’re looking for the "industry standard" that everyone accepts as normal.

The Validation: Would a room full of your target customers nod in agreement if you read this out? If they argue, you haven’t captured the reality.

Part 2: The problem (the pain)

Why is the current way unsustainable?

Here we diagnose the disease. Why is the industry standard failing? This isn't a minor annoyance; we are looking for a systemic failure.

In the SPICED framework, this maps to Pain and Impact. What is the specific cost of staying with the status quo?

The Validation: Is this problem acute and widespread? Does it represent a "broken state" of the market?

THE PIVOT: From Diagnosis to Strategy

Parts 1-2 were about understanding the problem. Now we shift to building your unique answer. This is where most strategies fail. They either skip the diagnosis entirely, or they diagnose correctly but then follow the same playbook as everyone else.

The next two parts are where you earn the right to win.

Part 3: The difference (the zag)

What does everyone else get wrong?

This is the pivot point. You've diagnosed the problem (Parts 1-2). Now you need the insight that everyone else is missing.

This is the "Secret" that explains why the problem persists.

Most of your competitors will "Zig" (follow the consensus). You must "Zag" (expose the flaw in that consensus).

This is about being right about something the rest of the market is wrong about.

A real difference requires a trade-off. If you aren't saying "No" to something, you don't have a strategy.

The Structure: "The market thinks the answer is X, but we know the answer is actually Y."

(When I say "Zig" and "Zag," I'm referencing the teaching style of Ziggy, Zig Ziglar, not Marley.)

Part 4: The path forward (the action plan)

The Sequence

Strategy is useless if it doesn’t dictate what we do on Monday morning. This section outlines the chronological sequence of moves to reshape the market reality.

The Validation: Does this explicitly deprioritise other good ideas? (Remember: Strategy is sacrifice).

Real life worked examples

Now let's see how Diagnosis → Strategy works in practice.

Why this works for early-stage ($0-1M)

When you are between $0 and $1M ARR, you cannot out-spend the incumbents. You can only out-think them.

1. Resource Scarcity: You can’t fix everything. This framework forces you to choose the one problem that matters (Part 2).
2. No Brand: You have no reputation yet. Your only leverage is a superior insight (Part 3).
3. Focus: You have limited time. You need a ruthless sequence of events, not a wish list (Part 4).

Strategy doesn’t need to be a 50-slide deck. It just needs to be true, clear, and actionable.

What's next

If this framework resonates and you want help applying it to your business, here are two options:

DIY: Grab a napkin. Write one paragraph for each of the 4 parts. Read it out loud. Test it with others and see what they say. If you have a team, can they all explain it back to you consistently?

Get a second pair of eyes: Book a GTM Health Check (free, 30 mins). I'll pressure-test your strategy and tell you where the gaps are.

Strategy isn't magic. It's clarity.

And clarity is the only thing that matters when you're trying to go from 0 to your first customers.