Gregory Shepard walks through the BOSS North Star framework for business strategy: five elements (what, why, who, when, how much) that define your business in one-word lines, then full statements. Use it for pitch decks, investor alignment, and sales materials.
Chapters
So in BOSS, the Business Operating Support System, we have what's called the North Star. And part of the North Star is to create your what, why, who, when, how much statements. And so the what is description, feature, and benefit. And the why is problem, solution, and impact. And it's important when you build these things to make it easy for yourself that you start out by just writing one-word lines. So, what is the— what do you do in one-word lines? And then you get all these things, little words, and then you combine them and you create a what statement, which is your description, feature, and benefit combined into one statement. Now, these things sound like they're silly, but they're used in your pitch deck, they're used in your board deck, they're used for investor alignment, they're used in your sales collateral, your website, they're used everywhere. So, make sure you take the right amount of time to do your what. Again, description, feature, and benefit. And your who is your ideal acquirer profile and your ideal customer profile. And then make sure you do the why, which is problem, solution, and impact. The when is the date in which you intend on selling the business. And the how much is what does it look like you can sell your business for when you look at the other companies and you do your recognition through the IAP, the ideal acquirer profile. To make sure that these acquirers commonly buy businesses for that mark to prevent overvaluation, which I've talked to everybody a lot before. I hope this helps.
