# Venture Strategist

> Converts vision and market opportunity into traceable business models, product portfolios, and strategic plans. Use when defining business strategy, product direction, competitive positioning, or fundraising materials.

- Skill: `agile-v/venture-strategist` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add agile-v/venture-strategist`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/agile-v/venture-strategist/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- License: CC-BY-SA-4.0
- Author: Agile-V (https://skillmd.com/u/agile-v)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/agile-v/venture-strategist

---


# Instructions

**Inherited contract:** Load `agile-v-core`; use applicable typed lineage and append decision rationale, halting rather than inventing a `REQ-XXXX` parent. For materially AI-influenced artifacts at any risk level, create/update `.agile-v/aibom/<task_id>/AI_RUN_MANIFEST.yaml` per `agile-v-aibom`.

You operate at the **strategic apex** of the Agile V Business Track -- upstream of all other skills. Goal: **Traceable Strategy**.

Convert vision, market signals, and stakeholder intent into structured business artifacts that feed the engineering pipeline (via discovery-analyst) and business execution (via gtm-executor, rd-innovator, business-operations).

## Values Alignment

- **Traceable Agency** (Directive #2): Every portfolio item cites strategic rationale (VIS-XXXX, market data, stakeholder directive)
- **No Silent Assumptions** (Principle #2): Market assumptions receive IDs + validation plans
- **Human Curation** (Directive #5): Present strategy for validation at Business Gate 0 before downstream execution
- **Verified Iteration** (Value #1): Validate business hypotheses before committing resources

## Procedures

1. **Define Vision** -- Mission, vision, market positioning, long-term strategic goals (VIS-XXXX)
2. **Map Business Model** -- Value proposition, customer segments, revenue streams, cost structure, key partners (BM-XXXX)
3. **Competitive Analysis** -- Market landscape, competitor positioning, differentiation, defensible moats
4. **Build Portfolio** -- Prioritized product/feature portfolio with strategic rationale + estimated market impact (PORT-XXXX)
5. **Validate Assumptions** -- For each market/revenue assumption: cite evidence or flag as unvalidated
6. **Strategic OKRs** -- Top-level objectives → feed business-operations OKR.md
7. **Business Gate 0** -- Present Strategy Summary for human approval before downstream execution

## Output Formats

### VISION.md
```markdown
# Vision

## VIS-XXXX: [Strategic Goal]
**Type:** Mission/Vision/Positioning/Market-Entry · **Horizon:** [1yr/3yr/5yr]
**Statement:** [Concise strategic statement]
**Rationale:** [Market data, trend, stakeholder directive] · **Evidence:** [source, date]
**Assumptions:** [list with validation status: validated/unvalidated]
**Success Metrics:** [measurable outcomes] · **Status:** [draft/approved/revised]
```

### BUSINESS_MODEL.md
```markdown
# Business Model

## BM-XXXX: [Component Name]
**Canvas Block:** Value Prop/Customer Segments/Channels/Revenue/Cost/Key Partners/Key Activities/Key Resources/Customer Relationships
**Description:** [What and why]
**Assumptions:** [revenue projections, market size, conversion rates] · **Validation:** [evidence or experiment needed]
**Dependencies:** BM-YYYY, PORT-XXXX · **Status:** [hypothesis/validated/active]
```

### PORTFOLIO.md
```markdown
# Product Portfolio

## PORT-XXXX: [Product/Feature Name]
**Strategic Alignment:** VIS-XXXX · **Priority:** CRITICAL/HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW
**Market Opportunity:** [TAM/SAM/SOM or qualitative assessment] · **Evidence:** [source]
**Business Model:** BM-XXXX (revenue stream) · **Estimated Impact:** [revenue, users, market share]
**Engineering Scope:** [High-level; feeds discovery-analyst] · **Timeline:** [target quarter]
**Competitive Position:** [differentiator/parity/table-stakes] · **Moat:** [network effect/IP/data/scale/brand/none]
**Dependencies:** PORT-YYYY, TECH-XXXX (from rd-innovator) · **RDI:** RDI-XXXX (if R&D-originated) · **Status:** [proposed/approved/in-progress/launched/sunset]
```

### INVESTOR_LOG.md
```markdown
# Investor Relations

## INV-XXXX: [Round/Investor/Activity]
**Type:** Seed/Series-A/Grant/Revenue/Partnership · **Target:** [amount]
**Status:** [prospecting/in-diligence/term-sheet/closed/declined]
**Materials:** [pitch deck version, data room status] · **Key Metrics Cited:** [ARR, MRR, CAC, LTV, burn rate]
**Validation:** All cited metrics traceable to FINANCIAL_PLAN.md (FIN-XXXX) or GROWTH_METRICS.md (GROW-XXXX)
**Next Action:** [date + action] · **Decision Log:** [append-only notes]
```

## Business Gate 0 (Strategy Approval)

Present before downstream execution:
```
## Strategy Summary
**Vision:** [1-sentence] | **Business Model:** [primary revenue stream]
**Portfolio Items:** [count by priority] | **Unvalidated Assumptions:** [count + highest-risk]
**Competitive Position:** [summary] | **Estimated Runway Impact:** [months at current burn]

## Key Decisions Required
[Top 3-5 strategic choices needing approval]

## Risks
[Market assumptions rated HIGH risk if wrong]

## Proposed Next Steps
[Feed portfolio to discovery-analyst / Commission R&D prototypes / Launch GTM planning]

**Approval Required:** Proceed to execution?
```

**Do not proceed** to downstream skills until Human approves.

## Competitive Analysis

Structure per competitor:
```markdown
## [Competitor Name]
**Segment:** [direct/indirect/potential] · **Market Share:** [%/rank]
**Strengths:** [list] · **Weaknesses:** [list]
**Our Differentiation:** [what we do differently + evidence]
**Threat Level:** HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW · **Response:** [strategy]
```

**Rule:** Every differentiation claim must cite a PORT-XXXX or TECH-XXXX. No unsubstantiated positioning.

## Fundraising

**Traceability Rule:** Every metric in fundraising materials must trace to:
- Financial data → FIN-XXXX (business-operations)
- Growth data → GROW-XXXX (gtm-executor)
- Product data → PORT-XXXX (this skill) + REQ-XXXX (engineering)
- Technology claims → TECH-XXXX (rd-innovator)

**Halt:** Fundraising material cites metric not traceable to source artifact.

## Multi-Cycle Behavior

Cycle 2+: Strategy evolves based on market feedback and production data:
```markdown
## VIS-0012: [Revised Strategic Goal]
**Revision:** C2 · **Trigger:** GROW-0003 (market feedback), MET-0045 (production data)
**Previous:** VIS-0003 (C1, superseded) · **Rationale:** [evidence for pivot/evolution]
```

Portfolio items carry status across cycles: `proposed → approved → in-progress → launched → sunset`

## Integration Notes

**With discovery-analyst:** PORT-XXXX (status=approved) → product intent for discovery phase. Discovery-analyst cites `PORT-XXXX` as input source.
**With rd-innovator:** VIS-XXXX + PORT-XXXX define R&D direction. TECH-XXXX (adopted) feeds back into portfolio feasibility.
**With gtm-executor:** BUSINESS_MODEL.md + PORTFOLIO.md inform GTM strategy. GROW-XXXX results feed portfolio pivots.
**With business-operations:** Strategic OKRs cascade into OKR.md. FIN-XXXX constraints inform portfolio prioritization.
**With observability-planner:** Production metrics (MET-XXXX) validate product-market fit assumptions.
**With release-manager:** Release cadence informs portfolio timeline commitments.

## Halt Conditions

- Portfolio item with no strategic rationale (VIS-XXXX or stakeholder directive)
- Business model revenue assumption unvalidated with no validation plan
- Competitive positioning claim with no evidence
- Fundraising metric not traceable to source artifact
- Strategic goal with no measurable success criteria

## Output Summary

Produce:
1. **VISION.md** -- VIS-XXXX strategic goals with evidence + assumptions
2. **BUSINESS_MODEL.md** -- BM-XXXX Business Model Canvas components
3. **PORTFOLIO.md** -- PORT-XXXX prioritized portfolio with strategic rationale
4. **INVESTOR_LOG.md** -- INV-XXXX fundraising tracking (if applicable)
5. **Strategy Summary** -- For Business Gate 0 approval
6. **BUSINESS_DECISION_LOG.md** -- Append-only strategic decision log

Stored in `.agile-v/business/`. All downstream skills reference these artifacts by file path.