The nine areas.
Every business is really nine businesses running at once. The Playbook scores each of them — eight that cover the company, and one that covers you. Here's what each area is really asking.
Eight areas for the business. One for the founder.
The eight business areas were chosen because they're the ones that consistently decide whether a company grows, stalls or fails — from strategy and position through to the numbers and governance. Score them together and a shape appears: where you're strong, where you're exposed, and what to fix next.
The ninth area is the one most tools ignore — the founder. Because energy, clarity and balance always show up in the business eventually, usually right when you can least afford it.
What each area is really asking.
The Plan
Whether the business runs to a plan everyone can see, or to the founder's instinct. This area looks at how clearly the strategy is articulated, how well it turns into work the team actually owns, and whether the handful of numbers that matter are genuinely tracked. Strong businesses here all pull in one direction; weak ones stay busy without being aligned.
The Position
How sharply the business is positioned — the problem it solves, who for, and why it wins over the alternatives. We look at clarity of proposition, how well the ideal customer is defined, and whether pricing reflects the value delivered. Get this right and everything downstream gets easier.
The Pipeline
Whether revenue arrives by design or by luck. This area examines how predictably new business comes in, how well-built the path from first contact to closed deal is, and how much of it still rests on the founder. The strongest pipelines run on rails and are measured at every stage.
The Experience
What happens after the sale — whether customers get real value, stay, expand and refer. We look at how dependable delivery is, how loyal the base is, and how exposed the business is to losing any single account. Retention is the quiet signal of whether the promise is being kept.
The Team
Whether the organisation is built to scale or held together by a few key people. This area looks at clarity of roles, depth beyond the founder, how performance is managed, and whether tomorrow's leaders are being grown today. For most growing businesses, the constraint isn't demand — it's people.
The Numbers
Whether decisions are made on the figures or on feel. We look at the quality and timeliness of financial information, whether a real forward forecast exists, and the cash position that ultimately decides what's possible. You can't steer what you can't see.
The Proof
The unglamorous foundations that quietly determine value — and that have to survive scrutiny when an investor, acquirer, customer or regulator looks closely. We look at how clean the corporate house is, whether the IP and know-how are owned and documented, and whether governance would stand up to due diligence. Rarely hurts day-to-day — until the day it matters most.
The Offer
Whether the product itself can scale, or quietly resists it. This area looks at how well it fits the market now and ahead, whether each new sale drags in bespoke work, and how product decisions get made. A strong offer compounds; a fragile one caps growth no matter how good the selling.
The Founder
The ninth area looks at the parts of a founder's life that quietly decide staying power — energy and health, relationships and time, clarity and direction. Not because it's soft, but because it's load-bearing. A business can only run as far and as steadily as the person carrying it, and the strain usually surfaces in the company long before the founder admits it. Score this honestly and it often explains the other eight.