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Professional Suite · Pack 1

From a vague problem
to the board deck.

Ten prompts that run the real arc of a strategy engagement. Below, watch one company travel all ten — input, to insight, to a McKinsey-grade deck.

$25 · 10 prompts · lifetime updates
Get the pack — $25 Jump to the deck ↓

The scenario

Meet Northwind

A $40M B2B SaaS company. Growth has stalled from 40% to 12% in a year, net revenue retention slid from 118% to 96%, and the board wants a plan. Here's how the ten prompts take Northwind from that blank-page panic to an approved board recommendation — one step at a time.

$40MARR
40%→12%Growth
118%→96%Net retention

This is a simplified view of a McKinsey consultant’s journey.

Each step below is condensed to a single highlight so you can see the whole package at a glance. In reality, every prompt returns far deeper work — pages of structured analysis, full tables, evidence, and reasoning — not the one-line outputs shown here.

The journey · 10 prompts

Input → what the prompt does → output

Each step names the consulting framework it runs — the same tools a McKinsey team would reach for. The outputs here are distilled highlights; the real prompt returns each in full.

1
Frame

Problem Framing & Issue Tree

Turns the vague brief into one decision question and a MECE issue tree.

MECE Issue Tree · Symptom → Root-Cause
Input

“Growth fell 40% → 12%. The board wants to know why.”

Output & framework

“What’s driving the 22-point retention decline — and which segment is leaking?”

Acquisition — channel mix · lead quality
Activation — time-to-value · onboarding
Expansion — upsell motion · usage depth
Churn — segment concentration · downgrade triggers  ← investigate first

Scope fixed (retention drivers, not net-new); the decision and its owner named.

2
Diagnose

Situation Assessment

Grades where the business truly stands across five dimensions, evidence-checked.

5-Dimension Diagnostic · Evidence Grading
Input

Raw metrics, customer notes, the competitor list.

Output & framework
PeopleStrong
ProcessAt Risk
PositioningCritical
PerformanceAt Risk
PipelineAt Risk

Primary tension: a positioning & pricing problem wearing a sales-problem costume. “Great culture” graded an Assumption, not evidence.

3
Analyze

Competitive Teardown

Reads the rival across four vectors — and predicts their next move.

Porter’s Five Forces · 4-Vector Teardown · Threat Matrix
Input

Rival “Vertex” — strong brand, slow product.

Output & framework
Product slow release cadence
Go-to-Market enterprise-led
Positioning “the trusted name”
Talent ⚑ hiring mid-market AEs
Threat MEDIUMSpeed accelerating

Our vulnerability: no migration story. War-gamed next move: a mid-market push — the AE hiring is the early signal.

4
Analyze

Market Sizing & Opportunity Map

Sizes the market bottoms-up and finds where the profit actually sits.

TAM/SAM/SOM · Profit Pools · Growth-Vector Ranking
Input

Buyer counts × seats × ACV.

Output & framework
$1.2BTAM
$630MSAM
$19MSOM · yr 3

Profit pool concentrates in hourly-billing firms. Whitespace: solo immigration practices. Top growth vector: RevOps adjacency (size × ease × confidence × speed).

5
Analyze

Market-Entry Assessment

A clear go / no-go with a fit score and the right way in.

Fit Score · Entry-Mode Trade-off · Go/No-Go
Input

Enter the RevOps-adjacent segment?

Output & framework
Fit 6 / 10GO — conditional

Motion: partner-led, not build. Beachhead: referred micro-businesses. Riskiest assumption: buyers will switch — proven in a 60-day pilot before spend.

6
Analyze

Framework Application

Runs a named framework as a decision tool — and forces a divest call.

Three Horizons · 9-Box Portfolio
Input

Apply Three-Horizons to the growth plan.

Output & framework
H1fix & defend the core
H2RevOps adjacency
H3platform bet

Tension: H1 is starved while spend chases H3. Forced divest call: sunset the legacy SMB tier.

7
Diagnose

Growth-Barrier Analysis

Tests five layers to isolate the one binding constraint — root cause and fix.

5-Layer Root-Cause Diagnostic
Input

Funnel, retention, CAC, capacity data.

Output & framework
MarketPositioningConversionRetention leakCapacity

Binding constraint: a bad-fit channel churning at 3× base rate. Roadmap: cut channel → fix onboarding → win-back (each scored on impact · effort · time-to-signal). What NOT to do: pour more into ads.

8
Decide

Strategic Options & Recommendation

Scores genuinely distinct options on four criteria and recommends one.

4-Criteria Scoring · Impact-Effort 2×2
Input

How should Northwind grow?

Output & framework
OptionImpactEffortConf.Fit
★ Refocus on ICP5245
Move upmarket4433
Acquire a rival5523
Do nothing1151

2×2: Refocus lands as a Quick Win. Not doing: geo expansion — revisit in two quarters.

9
Decide

Assumption Audit & Pre-Mortem

Classifies every assumption, war-games the failure, designs the cheapest test.

Assumption Taxonomy · War-Game · Pre-Mortem
Input

The Refocus recommendation, ready to commit.

Output & framework
ValidatedUnvalidatedContradictedLoad-Bearing

Killer assumption: “the strong core absorbs the refocus” — load-bearing and unvalidated.

War-game: the rival counters with a price cut. Cheapest test: a 30-day ICP-only pilot, kill-criterion set.

10
Communicate

Board-Ready Memo & Hostile Q&A

Compresses it all into the board narrative — and the deck below.

SCRAP Spine · Pyramid (Answer-First) · Hostile Q&A
Input

The full Strategy Brief from prompts 1–9.

Output & framework

“The slowdown is a retention leak, not a market problem — refocus and reaccelerate to 25%.”

SituationComplicationResolutionActionProof

The ask: approve the refocus + $2M reallocation, owned by the CRO, by July 15 — with 7 ranked board questions answered. Rendered as the deck below. ↓

The finale · one prompt away

The board deck the journey produces

Feed the Strategy Brief into the McKinsey-Grade Presentation Generator — our standalone flagship — and it builds this: a real, board-grade deck. It synthesizes all ten analyses above — the diagnostic, the teardown, the sizing, the options — into one board narrative. Swipe through Northwind’s, slide by slide.

Northwind board deck slide 1 of 8 Northwind board deck slide 2 of 8 Northwind board deck slide 3 of 8 Northwind board deck slide 4 of 8 Northwind board deck slide 5 of 8 Northwind board deck slide 6 of 8 Northwind board deck slide 7 of 8 Northwind board deck slide 8 of 8
1 / 8

Generated in the NOVA house style — a one-click .pptx where your tool can run code; a build-ready spec & outline anywhere, including Gemini.

Want the deck built for you in one shot?The McKinsey-Grade Presentation Generator — standalone flagship

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