Page 56 · Module 02, Design Your Business · this screen continues that page
All 108 frameworksBlue Ocean Strategy
You're operating in a market where everyone is fighting over the same customers with
The prompt
Copy & paste readyLabelsReplace theseSwap the role below
Pro tip, from the book
The best Blue Oceans are often found by looking at the non-customers of your industry, people who don't buy from anyone. Ask AI: 'Who refuses to use any solution in this market and why?' Their reasons are your roadmap.
Who should run this prompt
Module role profileWho should stress-test your business model? Business models fail quietly — not all at once, but one flawed assumption at a time. The roles on this page represent the perspectives that expose those assumptions before the market does. Use internal roles to build and refine your model. Use outside perspectives to find the gaps your optimism is covering.
Choose any role to drop it into the prompt above. Only the highlighted opening clause changes — the rest of the prompt stays exactly as printed.
◆◆◆◆◆ → ◆ seniority, board level down to specialist◈ outside the organisation
How to make any role sharper
- Add years of experience: "...with 15 years in enterprise SaaS" produces different depth than just the title.
- Add what they care most about: "You care most about [X]" shapes every word of the output.
- Add their communication style: "Be direct. Flag risks first. No jargon." changes the tone entirely.
Use this when
The problem it solvessimilar products, and the only lever you have is price. You need to find or create a space where you're not compared.
How the framework works
From the printed pageDeveloped by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy distinguishes between Red Oceans (existing markets: bloody with competition) and Blue Oceans (new market spaces, uncontested). The core tool is the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create grid (ERRC): what can you eliminate that your industry takes for granted? What can you reduce below industry standard? What should be raised above it? What should be created that has never been offered? The result is a value curve that looks nothing like your competitors. TThe ERRC grid forces a trade-off most businesses avoid: you cannot raise everything. Every Raise requires an Eliminate to fund it. That discipline is what separates a genuine Blue Ocean move from a feature list. Most founders fill in Create and Raise easily but stall on Eliminate, because giving something up feels like admitting weakness rather than making a strategic choice. The businesses that actually reshape their category are the ones willing to look incomplete by old industry standards on purpose.
The method, in four moves
Do these in orderMap what your industry currently competes on price, features, service, speed.
Apply the ERRC grid to find where you can break the value-cost trade-off.
Look for non-customers, people who don't use any existing solution. They define your Blue Ocean.
Test your new value curve: is it focused, divergent, and does it have a compelling tagline? Stop competing. Make the competition irrelevant.
Where the framework comes from
W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2004
Pairs well with
As printed with this frameworkModule 02 — Design Your Business
Shape what you're building so it deserves to exist.
10 frameworks, printed on pages 49–68.
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