Identity & self-belief

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Three stages of founder consciousness: from self to industry

Alex M H Smith July 17, 2025

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Identity & self-belief 9

Vision & mission 6

• Serving customers produces mediocrity — serving your industry builds icons.
• Most founders get stuck at stage two and mistake it for success.
• Great business ideas are relative to the status quo, not customer wishes.

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Competitive analysis

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How to find your unfair strategic advantage

Alex M H Smith July 3, 2025

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Competitive analysis 9

Vision & mission 6

• Your best advantage is probably the thing you're ignoring
• Low effort, high return signals where your real edge is
• Ten asset categories reveal non-replicable advantages you already own

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Business models

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Nine types of differentiation with real brand examples

Alex M H Smith June 19, 2025

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Business models 9

Branding 7

• Eight differentiation levers most businesses never consider beyond product features
• Red Bull's real edge was where the can appeared, not what's inside
• Claiming great service without structural proof is not differentiation

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Competitive analysis

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Five rare strategic questions to unlock business growth

Alex M H Smith June 10, 2025

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Competitive analysis 9

Niche selection 8

Branding 5

• Your true competitors may not be the brands that look like you
• Trader Joe's turned a glaring weakness into a revenue-per-foot record
• Oatly grew a category by targeting people who didn't want oat milk

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Niche selection

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Why most businesses struggle: the leverage problem

Alex M H Smith May 20, 2025

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Niche selection 9

Customer discovery 6

Competitive analysis 5

• Better messaging won't fix a business with no leverage.
• Leverage means high demand for something only you sell.
• Three creative moves — disagreement, difference, duplication — create it.

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Vision & mission

YouTube

How to write a one-page business strategy that actually changes things

Alex M H Smith May 6, 2025

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Vision & mission 9

• Unique value — not hustle — is the only source of real profit margin.
• Strategy is a prose narrative, not a slide deck or diagram.
• A strategy doesn't exist until outsiders can see it in your business.

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