Make the business case, with sources you can open
A Buteo business case researches the market for a startup idea and writes it up with sources you can open: the market and its timing, the competition, the customer, positioning, channels, pricing and unit economics, and a 90-day plan. What it reports is cited, and what it recommends is labelled as a recommendation.
By Buteo · Updated
The business case · its sections
- 01Snapshot
- 02Market & timing
- 03Competitive landscape
- 04ICP & jobs to be done
- 05Positioning & messaging
- 06Acquisition channels
- 07Demand & growth engine
- 08Pricing & unit economics
- 0990-day plan & KPIs
- 10What would break this
One section
Acquisition channels
[1]
[2]
Recommendation · labelled as one
Sources
- [1]A page you can open
- [2]A page you can open
How it works
Name what to make the case for
Your own idea, a product or a category, or paste a link. You confirm the scope first.
Buteo researches the market
Its own research passes, in parallel, aimed at how this kind of product is bought and sold.
Read a cited business case
10 sections. Facts cite their page, advice says it is advice.
What you get
The market and its timing
What sources say about its size, and what changed to make now the moment.
The competitive landscape
Who sells to this customer today, and how each one positions itself.
The customer and the job
Who buys and what they are trying to get done, in the words research found.
Positioning and channels
The position the evidence favours, and where products like this one find their customers.
Pricing and unit economics
How comparable products charge, and the category's benchmarks for acquisition cost, lifetime value and payback.
A plan, and what would break it
The first 90 days with what to measure, and the counter-case that could undo the rest.
What is in a Buteo business case?
10 sections on whether and how a product reaches its market: Snapshot, Market & timing, Competitive landscape, ICP & jobs to be done, Positioning & messaging, Acquisition channels, Demand & growth engine, Pricing & unit economics, 90-day plan & KPIs, and What would break this. You can make the case for the thing you are building, a product that already exists, or a whole category.
It answers the question that follows a verdict: not whether to build, but who buys, how they are reached, and what to charge. In the app it lives under Case studies.
How do I know what is fact and what is advice?
The business case separates them. What it reports cites a page you can open. What it recommends is labelled as a recommendation, because advice about your market is a judgement and should not borrow the authority of a source.
Is it a financial forecast?
No. There is no profit-and-loss projection, because no source can state one for a product that does not exist yet. The pricing section reports what comparable products charge, then gives acquisition cost, lifetime value, payback and gross margin as benchmarks for the category, each with its source, and names the assumption the economics depend on most. Where no source gives a figure, it says none was found.
Does it reuse my validation's evidence?
No. A business case runs its own research, aimed at the market rather than at whether the idea holds. You confirm what it is about before any research starts, so a case for the wrong thing costs you nothing. The product that does inherit your validation's evidence is the blueprint.
Who can read a finished business case, and what does it cost?
Every signed-in user. A finished business case joins a library other founders can read, credited to its author, and may be featured on the public site with the author's agreement. You are told this before you start one. A validation and a blueprint are different: those stay private.
A business case costs 8 credits. Read the featured case studies, or see the pricing.
Where it sits, from the idea to the blueprint
01 Find the idea
03 Test
04 Business case
- Business case
05 Blueprint
Questions people ask about this
Can I make the case for a competitor instead of my own idea?
Yes. Name a product, a category or your own idea, or paste a link. Studying how a product in your market reached its customers is often the fastest way to see which channels are worth trying.
Is a business case a launch plan?
It says which channels and positions the evidence favours, with a plan for the first 90 days and what to measure. It is a case you act on, and deciding what actually goes out, and when, stays with you.