Run a structured SWOT analysis with strategic recommendations
intermediateClaude SonnetExecutiveStrategyswotstrategyplanningleadershipassessment
Use case
Use this when the leadership team needs a fast strategic temperature check before a planning offsite, a board meeting, or a major decision. Most SWOTs end up as wallpaper. This prompt produces one that actually drives a discussion, by forcing each item to be specific, prioritized, and connected to a recommended action.
The prompt
You are a strategy advisor who runs SWOTs only when they will actually be used. Produce a structured SWOT analysis for{{company_name}}. Inputs: - Company and stage:{{company_name}},{{stage}}- Current focus and offering:{{current_focus}}- Recent results — what's hit, what's missed:{{recent_results}}- Top three competitors:{{competitors}}- Key macro or market shifts:{{market_shifts}}- The decision or planning context this SWOT is feeding into:{{context}}Produce a SWOT in the following structure. Each item must be specific, not generic. ## Strengths (4–5) Internal advantages that are real and durable. For each: - Stated in one sharp sentence - **Evidence:** the measurable proof point - **Sustainability:** marked as **structural**, **earned**, or **fading** ## Weaknesses (4–5) Internal limitations that are costing us today. Same format. Honest. ## Opportunities (4–5) External market shifts we could exploit. Same format, with an additional **Window:** field — open now, opening, or closing. ## Threats (3–4) External shifts that could damage us. Same format, with a **Time horizon** — quarters, not years. ## The Three Pairings That Matter Pick the three most consequential intersections from the SWOT. For each: - **The pairing:** e.g., "Our enterprise customer base (Strength) + healthcare compliance shift (Opportunity)" - **The implication:** what this combination makes possible or threatens - **The action:** the move it suggests ## What This SWOT Is Telling Us One paragraph. The strategic posture this SWOT implies — defensive, expansive, repositioning, etc. — and why. ## Three Recommended Actions Concrete moves for the next 90 days, derived from the SWOT, in priority order. Each action has an owner and a measurable outcome. Constraints: - Ban "great team," "strong brand," and "growing market" unless backed by a number. - Force pairings — the value of a SWOT comes from the intersections, not the four boxes in isolation. - Take a position in the recommendations.
Variables
{{{{company_name}}}}Replace with your {{company name}}{{{{stage}}}}Replace with your {{stage}}{{{{current_focus}}}}Replace with your {{current focus}}{{{{recent_results}}}}Replace with your {{recent results}}{{{{competitors}}}}Replace with your {{competitors}}{{{{market_shifts}}}}Replace with your {{market shifts}}{{{{context}}}}Replace with your {{context}}
Example
Input
company_name: Vantage Systems stage: Series B SaaS, $24M ARR, 180 employees current_focus: analytics platform for mid-market healthcare recent_results: 38% growth (missed plan of 65%); NRR 124%; AI roadmap slipped two quarters; healthcare logos accelerating competitors: Helio (well-funded PLG), Analytix Pro (incumbent, broad), Pulseboard (smaller, marketing-attribution) market_shifts: HIPAA AI guidance tightening; mid-market healthcare M&A wave; PLG buyer fatigue setting in context: setting 2027 strategic priorities; deciding whether to double down on healthcare or stay horizontal
Output
## Strengths 1. **Healthcare vertical depth.** 41 healthcare logos and a $400K average ACV, with the highest NRR (138%) of any segment. - Evidence: healthcare share of new ARR rose from 18% to 35% in 18 months. - Sustainability: structural — built on integrations and compliance work that take years to replicate. 2. **Net revenue retention of 124% across the book.** - Evidence: company-wide NRR; expansion ratio 1.4x. - Sustainability: earned — depends on continued product investment. 3. **Onboarding and CS motion.** - Evidence: time-to-value of 4.2 weeks vs. industry typical of 9+; CSAT on onboarding 4.7/5. - Sustainability: structural — operational muscle, hard to copy quickly. 4. **Profitable enterprise unit economics.** - Evidence: enterprise tier 78% gross margin, 0.9 CAC payback ratio. - Sustainability: earned — requires we don't break it with discounting. ## Weaknesses 1. **AI module roadmap behind.** - Evidence: GA slipped from Q4 last year to Q2 this year; competitors have shipped equivalents. - Sustainability of weakness: fading — Q2 GA closes the gap if hit. 2. **SMB self-serve experiment cost $4M with no traction.** - Evidence: 0.4% conversion from free to paid; sub-$500 average ACV. - Sustainability: not yet decided to kill; $400K+/month in ongoing carrying cost. 3. **Two failed exec hires in last 12 months.** - Evidence: VP Marketing and VP Product Marketing both exited inside 9 months. - Sustainability: cultural pattern; needs explicit attention to break. 4. **Engineering capacity is flat year-over-year.** - Evidence: headcount unchanged; roadmap commitments unchanged. - Sustainability: structural for at least 12 months given cash plan. ## Opportunities 1. **HIPAA AI compliance tightening.** - Evidence: HHS guidance updates; healthcare buyer urgency rising. - Window: open now, narrowing — first credible product wins the category. 2. **Mid-market healthcare M&A wave.** - Evidence: 14 mid-market healthcare M&A announcements in last 6 months. - Window: opening — consolidation creates platform-replacement moments. 3. **PLG buyer fatigue.** - Evidence: customer interviews report "tool sprawl" frustration; consolidation buying showing up. - Window: opening — favors platform plays over point solutions. 4. **Helio's stretched valuation creating pressure to climb upmarket.** - Evidence: Helio's hires, cuts, and recent moves — they will eventually invade enterprise on a fixed timeline. - Window: 12–18 months of relative quiet before they show up directly. ## Threats 1. **Helio launches warehouse-native enterprise tier.** - Evidence: Series C size, ex-HubSpot VP Sales hire. - Time horizon: 4–6 quarters. 2. **Healthcare compliance changes that we cannot keep up with.** - Evidence: HHS pace of guidance; engineering capacity flat. - Time horizon: 2–3 quarters. 3. **A consolidation deal where one of our top healthcare customers gets acquired by a bigger player on a competing platform.** - Evidence: M&A activity in the customer base. - Time horizon: 1–4 quarters. ## The Three Pairings That Matter 1. **Healthcare depth (S) × HIPAA AI guidance (O).** This is the single most important pairing in the company today. The compliance shift turns our integration work into a moat. *Action: ship the AI compliance module on schedule and brand the company around it for the year.* 2. **Engineering capacity flat (W) × Helio's enterprise climb (T).** We will not out-build Helio at parity capacity; we have to out-focus them. *Action: kill SMB self-serve, redirect the freed engineering and design time entirely to healthcare and AI compliance.* 3. **NRR 124% (S) × PLG buyer fatigue (O).** Our existing customers are the cheapest acquisition channel for ARR; the market is shifting toward consolidation. *Action: lead with expansion offers and bundled tiering; budget at least 30% of revenue plan from expansion.* ## What This SWOT Is Telling Us Vantage is at the moment where general-purpose ambition becomes a liability. The strengths and opportunities both point toward concentrated focus on healthcare; the weaknesses and threats both punish anyone who tries to fight on multiple fronts with flat capacity. The strategic posture for 2027 should be focused-defensive on the core, aggressive on healthcare and AI compliance — not horizontal. ## Three Recommended Actions 1. **Kill SMB self-serve in the next 30 days.** Owner: CEO. Outcome: $400K/month operating cost recovered; 12% of engineering capacity redirected. 2. **Commit publicly to the AI compliance module GA by end of Q2.** Owner: CPO. Outcome: shipped GA, 18 paying healthcare customers using it in production by end of Q2. 3. **Launch a healthcare expansion playbook for the top 30 accounts in the book.** Owner: CRO. Outcome: $4M of incremental ARR from expansion in next two quarters.
Tips for best results
- 1The pairings section is what makes a SWOT useful. A SWOT that stops at the four boxes is a worksheet, not a strategy artifact.
- 2Force evidence on every item. If you cannot put a number or a proof point, you are guessing — and a guess in a SWOT becomes a fact in three meetings.
- 3Mark sustainability honestly. Most 'strengths' are earned and reversible — calling them structural makes the team complacent.
- 4Re-run this against the same inputs every 6 months. Watching the items move between boxes is how you spot trend lines.
- 5Use the recommended actions to set 90-day OKRs. A SWOT that doesn't generate action is wallpaper.
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