Purpose
Map a company's current products and markets against the four Ansoff quadrants and surface a prioritized, risk-rated set of growth vectors — so leadership can see the full option space at once and decide where to place bets instead of defaulting to whatever's loudest in the room.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Identify where the company should grow next
- Evaluate expansion into new products, segments, or geographies
- Build or refresh a corporate growth strategy
- Pressure-test a single growth thesis against alternatives before committing budget
- Prioritize a backlog of growth ideas by risk and expected return
- Prepare a growth options section for a board deck or strategic plan
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Current products/services: What the company sells today, and rough revenue contribution of each
- Current markets/segments: Who buys today — industries, geographies, customer sizes
- Core capabilities: What the company is genuinely good at (tech, distribution, brand, relationships, cost position)
- Growth goal: The target — revenue multiple, timeframe, or strategic objective (e.g., "3x revenue in 4 years")
- Constraints: Capital available, risk appetite, regulatory or operational limits
- Competitive context: Main competitors and any obvious market shifts underway
- Off-limits areas: Markets, products, or moves explicitly ruled out
If revenue contribution or competitive context is missing, proceed with reasonable assumptions and flag them explicitly in the output.
Instructions
Step 1: Establish the Current Position
Before generating vectors, anchor the analysis:
- Summarize the company's current product × market position in 3–4 sentences
- Identify the 2–3 core capabilities that will act as leverage points for growth
- Note the constraint envelope (capital, risk appetite, timeframe) that will gate which vectors are realistic
This grounds every vector in what the company can actually execute — not a generic idea list.
Step 2: Generate Growth Vectors Across the Four Ansoff Quadrants
Generate 20 vectors total, distributed across the four quadrants in ascending risk order. For each vector include:
- The vector (specific move, named for this company — not "expand to new markets")
- Rationale: 2 sentences tying it to a current capability or market reality
- Risk level: Low / Medium / High / Very High
- Resource intensity: Light / Moderate / Heavy
- Time-to-impact: Quick (0–6mo) / Medium (6–18mo) / Long (18mo+)
Quadrant 1 — Market Penetration (7 vectors) — Existing products, existing markets Lowest risk. Sell more of what you have to who you already reach.
- Vector types: increase usage/frequency, win share from competitors, improve retention/expansion revenue, raise price or repackage, deepen channel coverage
- Default risk: Low to Medium — the offer and market are both proven
Quadrant 2 — Market Development (5 vectors) — Existing products, new markets Moderate risk. Take proven products to new segments, geographies, or use cases.
- Vector types: new geography, new industry vertical, new customer size tier (up- or down-market), new channel/distribution model, new use case for the same product
- Default risk: Medium — product is proven, but go-to-market and demand are unproven
Quadrant 3 — Product Development (5 vectors) — New products, existing markets Moderate-to-high risk. Build new offerings for customers who already trust you.
- Vector types: adjacent product/module, complementary service layer, platform/ecosystem play, bundle/suite creation, subscription or recurring-revenue conversion of a one-time offer
- Default risk: Medium to High — market relationship exists, but build and product-market fit are unproven
Quadrant 4 — Diversification (3 vectors) — New products, new markets Highest risk. New offering, new buyer. Reserve for high-conviction or defensive moves.
- Vector types: related diversification (leverages a shared capability), unrelated diversification, acquisition-led entry
- Default risk: High to Very High — flag whether the move is offensive (opportunity) or defensive (hedge against decline)
- For each, name the single capability that de-risks it, or state plainly that none exists
Step 3: Prioritize the Top 5
From the 20, select the 5 highest-leverage vectors given the stated growth goal and constraints. Rank them and for each provide:
- Why this makes the cut: 2 sentences connecting it to the growth goal and constraint envelope
- First test: The cheapest experiment that would validate or kill the vector before major investment
- Kill signal: The specific result that should stop the initiative
Step 4: Sequencing Recommendation
Recommend a sequence — which vectors to pursue now, next, and later — reasoning from risk, resource contention, and dependency. Be opinionated: name what to do first and what to explicitly defer.
Output Format
- Structure: Current position summary → 4 quadrant sections with numbered vectors → Top 5 prioritized → Sequencing recommendation
- Length: 1,100–1,500 words
- Format: Structured document — quadrant vectors as labeled lists with the five attributes; top 5 as ranked structured bullets
- Sections: Current Position → Market Penetration → Market Development → Product Development → Diversification → Top 5 Prioritized Vectors → Sequencing Recommendation
- Tone: Chief Strategy Officer — clear-eyed, capital-aware, willing to call a bad idea a bad idea
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All 20 vectors are present with the correct per-quadrant counts (7 / 5 / 5 / 3)
- [ ] Every vector has all five attributes: rationale, risk level, resource intensity, time-to-impact
- [ ] Vectors are named specifically for this company — no generic "enter new markets" placeholders
- [ ] Risk levels ascend appropriately across quadrants (penetration lowest, diversification highest)
- [ ] Top 5 each include a first test and a kill signal — not just a recommendation
- [ ] Any assumptions made from missing inputs are flagged explicitly
- [ ] Sequencing recommendation names a clear first move and an explicit deferral
Notes
- Most companies over-index on Quadrant 3 and 4 (shiny new products, new markets) while leaving Quadrant 1 penetration gains on the table — the cheapest growth is usually selling more to who you already reach
- Diversification vectors should be treated as options, not commitments; the value is in identifying them and knowing the trigger conditions, not pursuing them prematurely
- If the growth goal is aggressive relative to the constraint envelope, say so directly — a 5x goal on a penetration-only strategy is a mismatch worth naming
- The "kill signal" is the most valuable output for executives; a growth vector without a defined failure condition is a budget leak waiting to happen
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills