Business Operations and Growth

Input: $ARGUMENTS

Interpretations

Before executing, identify which interpretation matches the user’s input:

Interpretation 1 — Business problem to solve: The user has a specific operational challenge (revenue, hiring, pricing, cash flow) and needs a framework applied to it. Interpretation 2 — Business idea to evaluate: The user has a new venture or product concept and wants to assess its viability, market fit, and economics before committing. Interpretation 3 — Business growth strategy: The user has an existing business and wants to identify the highest-leverage moves to scale revenue, efficiency, or market position.

If ambiguous, ask: “I can help with solving a specific business problem, evaluating a new business idea, or developing a growth strategy — which fits?” If clear from context, proceed with the matching interpretation.

Overview

Comprehensive procedure for business goals including starting, growing, and operating businesses. Covers the gaps in the thin business domain.

Most business advice is generic. This procedure provides frameworks for the actual hard decisions.

Steps

Step 1: Classify the Business Question

What type of business challenge is the input?

Type	Route to	Key Question
Starting a business	Step 2a	Is this viable?
Revenue/sales	Step 2b	How to get customers?
Pricing	Step 2c	What to charge?
Hiring/team	Step 2d	Who to hire and when?
Growth	Step 2e	How to scale?
Operations	Step 2f	How to run efficiently?
Financial	Step 2g	How to manage money?

Step 2a: Starting — Viability Assessment

Before building anything:

Problem: What specific problem does this solve? For whom?
Evidence: How do you KNOW this is a real problem? (Not assumed — validated)
Solution: Why is YOUR solution better than alternatives?
Market: How many people have this problem and would pay to solve it?
Economics: Can you deliver the solution profitably?
Moat: What prevents a competitor from copying you?

→ INVOKE: /cd (customer development) for problem validation

Step 2b: Revenue — Customer Acquisition

Who is the ideal customer? (Specific, not “everyone”)
Where are they? (Physical/digital channels)
What message resonates? (Problem → solution → proof)
How do they buy? (Sales process, decision factors)
Cost: What does it cost to acquire one customer?
Value: What is one customer worth over their lifetime?
Rule: Customer Lifetime Value must be > 3× Customer Acquisition Cost

Step 2c: Pricing

Cost-plus: What does it cost to deliver + target margin?
Value-based: What is the customer’s alternative? Price below that.
Competitive: What do similar solutions cost?
Test: Try different prices and measure conversion × revenue
Common mistake: pricing too LOW (signals low quality, attracts wrong customers)

Step 2d: Hiring

When to hire: Only when the work exceeds what current people can do AND the hire will generate more revenue than their cost
Who first: Hire for your weakest critical function (not your favorite)
How to evaluate: Past results in similar context > credentials > interviews
Common mistake: Hiring before product-market fit is confirmed

Step 2e: Growth

Organic: Content, SEO, word of mouth, community
Paid: Advertising, partnerships, affiliate programs
Product-led: Free tier, viral features, network effects
Sales-led: Direct sales team, outbound, enterprise
Choose based on: Customer Acquisition Cost ceiling, product complexity, deal size

Step 2f: Operations

Systematize: Document processes so they’re repeatable without you
Measure: Track the 3-5 metrics that actually matter (not vanity metrics)
Automate: Remove humans from processes that don’t need judgment
Delegate: Give others authority to make decisions in their domain
Key metric: Revenue per employee (simplest measure of operational efficiency)

Step 2g: Financial Management

Cash flow: Revenue timing vs expense timing (this kills businesses, not profitability)
Unit economics: Revenue per customer - cost per customer = margin per customer
Runway: Cash ÷ monthly burn = months until broke
Break-even: Fixed costs ÷ margin per unit = units to break even
→ INVOKE: /bm (budget management) for detailed financial planning
→ INVOKE: /cfm (cash flow management) for cash flow optimization

Step 3: Apply Framework to Input

Classify the input (Step 1)
Apply the relevant sub-step
Identify the key decision or action needed
Check: is the advice specific enough to act on? If not, ask for more context

Step 4: Report

BUSINESS ANALYSIS:
Question type: [classification]
Key challenge: [the core problem]

Analysis:
[Framework application with specific recommendations]

Key metrics to track:
1. [metric] — current: [value] — target: [value]

Next actions:
1. [specific action]
2. [specific action]

Risks:
1. [risk] — mitigation: [action]

Related procedures: [which other skills might help]

When to Use

Starting a business
Growing an existing business
Sales and revenue generation
Hiring and team building
Pricing and positioning
Financial planning and management
→ INVOKE: /cd (customer development) for validation
→ INVOKE: /pos (positioning) for market positioning
→ INVOKE: /fm (financial modeling) for projections

Verification

Business question correctly classified
Framework applied with specifics (not generic advice)
Key metrics identified
Actions are specific and actionable
Risks identified with mitigations

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