# Write a business case for an investment or initiative

Costs, benefits, NPV/payback, risks, and a recommendation for any initiative or purchase.

- Topic: Business Strategy & Startups
- Framework: RCTFVV
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Finance, Write, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/write-a-business-case-for-an-investment-or-initiative

## Prompt

```text
Role: Act as a head of product writing a business case for an executive decision.

Context: The opportunity and why now: [OPPORTUNITY_WHY_NOW]. Target customer and problem, with evidence: [CUSTOMER_PROBLEM_EVIDENCE]. Proposed solution and how it differs: [SOLUTION_DIFF]. Market size / reachable demand and basis: [MARKET]. Business model and pricing hypothesis: [MODEL_PRICING]. Cost to build and run (rough, phased): [COSTS]. Key risks and alternatives incl. do-nothing: [RISKS_ALTS]. Decision criteria and timeframe: [CRITERIA_TIMEFRAME].

Goal: Give the executive team a clear, honest basis to fund, stage-gate or decline, with the uncertainty made explicit rather than hidden.

Task: Produce: an executive summary; the problem and evidence; the market opportunity and its basis; the solution and its differentiation; the business model with a simple unit-economics view and the assumptions; a phased cost and a rough return / payback range; risks with mitigations; the comparison to do-nothing and the main alternative; and a staged recommendation (e.g. fund a discovery phase with a kill criterion) tied to the decision criteria.

Constraints: Use only the evidence and figures provided or clearly-labelled assumptions. Present a range, not a single forecast. Recommend the smallest next commitment that reduces the biggest uncertainty (stage-gate), not a full build. Be explicit about what could kill the case.

Examples: Stage-gate shape: 'Phase 1 (discovery, [cost], [X] weeks): validate [riskiest assumption]. Proceed only if [measurable condition]; otherwise stop.'

Format: Sections: Executive summary | Problem & evidence | Market | Solution & differentiation | Model & unit economics | Costs & return range | Risks | Do-nothing & alternative | Staged recommendation. ~900 words.

Verification: Collect every assumption in one list and mark which the case is most sensitive to.

Validation: Review as a sceptical CFO and a rival PM: which assumption is the case really betting on, and is the first stage-gate cheap enough and sharp enough? Tighten it.
```

## What to fill in

- OPPORTUNITY_WHY_NOW
- CUSTOMER_PROBLEM_EVIDENCE
- SOLUTION_DIFF
- MARKET
- MODEL_PRICING
- COSTS
- RISKS_ALTS
- CRITERIA_TIMEFRAME
- cost
- riskiest assumption
- measurable condition

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.