Good resources for long-term / strategic planning?
Often on IH we tend to be thinking more short-term and the discussion centers around those topics. Many of us are launching new products, working on landing pages or looking to get to the next MRR milestone. All of this is incredibly valuable but it's really only focused on the first part of the journey as an entrepreneur.
I'm interested in thinking a bit more long term now and wondering if anyone has come across good resources for this?
I want to challenge myself to think about my product 1 year from now, 5 years from now, who I should be targeting for growth, who I should be hiring first, etc etc.
Ideally I'm looking for some kind of mental framework or maybe a list of prompts that I can work through to think a bit more deeply about what I'm doing.
There's so many resources out there for the early / launch stage but I'm drawing a blank coming up with resources for this!
I put together my own, from a collection of others which I have in Notion. Inspired by Lenny Rachitsky's PMs templates (https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/my-favorite-templates-issue-37).
This is my go-to structure when doing any strategic, long-term thinking. Hope it helps!
High Level Strategic Template
# Mission
e.g. To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy
# Vision
e.g. To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.
# Our Values
List your company values
# Goals
eg. 2 million bookings
# Strategy
One to two paragraph narrative of what the strategy is, and why it’s the right strategy. It often helps to have a single theme for this period.
# Strategic Pillars
Itemize the major bets or investments you believe you need to make in order to be successful
Strategic Pillar Template
# What is it?
Short description of this pillar, e.g. We need to expand our offering internationally...
# Why is it important?
Context on why it’s important
# What will success look like?
A sentence or two describing how you know if you’ve succeeded at this pillar
# Key Initiatives:
What are the distinct tracks of work that will be necessary to undertake in order to achieve this
Key Initiatives Template
# Description
Brief description of the initiative, including the what and the why, e.g. Launch in Japan in order to support the international expansion pillar
# Strategy
A short overview of how you plan to approach this initiative
# Projects
A list of key projects you plan to undertake, and rough timelines
# Timeline
Expected timeline to complete the initiative
# Impact
The impact you expect to deliver as a result of executing this initiative, e.g. revenue growth, user growth, higher customer satisfaction, etc.
# Resources needed
A breakdown of the type and amount of resources required to achieve this initiative, e.g. $50k marketing spend, 2 designers, etc. Be as detailed as possible, and ideally, give a few options.
# Risks and Dependencies
Lay out the major risks to this initiative, and how you plan to mitigate them
this is a great template, thanks for sharing!
And that link is a treasure trove of info too - will work my way through it 👍🏻
This comment is not from my personal experience but have heard of this book a lot on podcasts by successful entrepreneurs called: Crossing the Chasm
Maybe someone over here can tell more about it.
From the book's Wikipedia page
That does sound interesting - I would love to hear from other IH users if this book has relevance to bootstrappers!
I didn't find it useful for startups (flat hierarchy) or bootstrappers. I felt it was directed at larger companies with many stakeholders. I feel asleep quarter way through the book then never picked it up again.
My friend Tobias linked me to this amazing article by Taylor Pearson about antifragile planning
Hey Jon. I sent you a Twitter DM and an email a while back. I know you're super busy, but could you just confirm you got them and the answer is no?
Youssef (https://twitter.com/YS) has advocated the Jobs to be Done framework and suggested these two links as a starter on the topic:
https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/bob-moesta-on-unpacking-customer-motivations-with-jobs-to-be-done/
https://vimeo.com/81153746
While the mentors on GrowthMentor.com did help me end and start a new project (short-term) I think it's ideally meant for Medium to Long Term growth and mentorship.