RAINMAKERS
8 Steps To Create A
Business Case That
‘Sells’
By Dr. Clifford Ferguson
A
solid business case is a must
to secure resources, allocation
of operating funds, or capital
investment in any project, especially
when pursuing a new idea opportunity,
new capability, or major idea extension.
There are a number of critical elements
to consider when formulating a business
case.
Good business planning forces you to
think through all the critical elements of
your product strategy. The problem is that
taking several weeks or months to write
a big document largely based on non-
validated assumptions and guesswork is a
form of waste. Steven Blank has famously
called a business plan “a document
investors make you write that they don’t
read.”
And so... We need a more lean and
systematic way to approach crafting
product strategy and constructing business
cases. Something that: Is as good as
Google Docs or Evernote to capture our
idea vision, yet forces us to think through
all the most important elements of any
idea strategy: Can be easily shared with
others to get their feedback in a format
they’ll actually read. The reality is that no
one reads even 5 slides, forget a 20-page
deck. People want in-person interactions
because of the richness that stems from
an organic conversation. So we need a
tool that can more easily facilitate those
conversations.
We need something that provides a
common language to discuss and debate
idea strategy. (How many “strategy
decks” do you have in your organization
where the headings are never the same?).
Supports quick updates to the original
Good business planning forces you to
think through all the critical elements
of your product strategy. The problem is
that taking several weeks or months to
write a big document largely based on
non-validated assumptions and guess-
work is a form of waste. Steven Blank
has famously called a business plan “a
document investors make you write that
they don’t read.”
82 MAL33/19 ISSUE
vision as assumptions are validated and
new learnings on the strategy absorbed.
Essentially, we need something quick and
an easy way of helping us toward building
our business case, while also getting
traction with our internal stakeholders.
Identify key risks and
unknowns
It is essential to validate your target
customer and their problems, especially
early adopters. After all, if no one is going
to buy your idea in the first place, what’s
the use of development estimates?
At first pass, just about every aspect of
your initial vision can be considered risky.
What the riskiest parts are for your idea
will depend on how well-informed your
vision may be. E.g., if your organization
has already done extensive customer
research, maybe your Customer Segment
and their Problems are not the riskiest
elements of your plan. Maybe it’s the
messaging and positioning (UVP), your
Solution, or pricing model that may be the
things to validate.
You need to be able to quickly identify the
riskiest parts that need to be tackled first
so you can prioritise your work.
Identify key stakeholders
The larger the organization you work in,
the more stakeholders you’re likely to
have. It’s important to identify who these
folks are, be they two or twenty. If you’re