Begin with the customer event
Identify the moment a customer decides to pay or commit attention. Describe the job being done, the alternative the customer could choose, the buyer, the user, and the reason the company can serve that event repeatedly.
Separate the company’s description of its market from observable behavior such as transaction volume, retention, utilization, and channel mix.
Follow value through the system
Map acquisition, onboarding, fulfillment, support, billing, and renewal. For each stage, name the resources, software, partners, labor, regulation, and capital required. Bottlenecks often sit outside the feature customers see.
A useful map distinguishes a fixed capability that can be reused from a variable input consumed with each sale.
- Customer and payer
- Acquisition channel
- Critical activity
- Scarce resource
- Failure mode
- Feedback loop
Attach evidence to each claim
Use regulatory filings, audited reports, official product documentation, credible reporting, and direct operational data where available. Label estimates and interpretations. A precise number without provenance is not stronger than a transparent range.
Update the model when evidence conflicts instead of forcing new facts into an old narrative.
Give each major claim a source, date, and confidence label, then ask what evidence would disprove the current model.