The Strategy Stack: Business Plan, MVV & GTM Plan Decoded

Starting a business comes with a lot to consider. Your background and personality will naturally shape what you focus on first.

For me, creativity takes the lead — I’m instantly drawn to corporate identity, brainstorming logo concepts, colour schemes, and all the visual elements that bring a brand to life.

But here’s the truth: where you start doesn’t matter. Starting does! 

Providing you work through the key building blocks of a strong, sustainable business within a reasonable timeframe, you’re already on the right path. Keep moving forward, and you’ll get there!

So, let's dive into the Strategy Stack, which consists of three elements:

• Business plan

• Mission, vision and values (MVV), including the customer promise

• Go-to-market plan (GTM)

Although the content of these documents may overlap, addressing them individually ensures that every aspect is carefully considered, strategically planned, and effectively executed.

The Business Plan - Your Commercial Roadmap

Your business plan lays out the commercial roadmap for the business.

It's wise to consider the business plan across three key timeframes: short-term (year one), medium-term (one to three years), and long-term (up to five years).

Key components include analysing the opportunity (including potential risks), developing financial projections, identifying resource and operational requirements, and setting growth targets.

Aim to establish realistic yet ambitious goals, ensuring a clear pathway for growth. Most importantly, define your brand’s competitive positioning — what sets you apart in the market?

Identify your unique differentiators that enable you to compete effectively against others in your sector, all vying for the attention of your ideal customer profile (ICP).

Mission, Vision, and Values - Your North Star

Where the business plan focuses on a rational approach to the commercial success of your venture, in many ways, a Mission, Vision and Values (MVV) document takes care of the emotional side.

Typically 1-2 pages long and easy to understand, the MVV should reflect your intended company culture. It should inspire your team, prospects and other stakeholders to want to work with you.

Mission statement

A good mission statement includes a definition of the company’s core purpose and reason for being, answering the following questions:

• What do we do?

• Who do we serve?

• How do we do it?

The statement should be clear, concise and action-oriented.

True North's mission statement is:

"Empowering entrepreneurs and lifestyle business founders to achieve sustainable growth through tailored work-life integration plans that support business success and personal fulfilment."

Vision Statement

Once happy with your mission statement, it's time to create a vision statement.

This should include the future aspirations and goals of the business while focusing on the impact you wish to make on the industry and the markets served.

True North's vision statement:

"To create a world where entrepreneurs and lifestyle business founders achieve sustainable success without sacrificing their well-being. We envision a future where work and life goals are seamlessly integrated, enabling business growth that aligns with personal fulfilment, fun, freedom, and flexibility, to promote long-term happiness."

Values

Business values are the pillars that support your mission and vision. They represent your core beliefs and principles, acting as behavioural guidelines for your business.

Living and breathing these values from day one will shape your decision-making and company culture.

Here are the values that shape True North:

• Balance and wellbeing: Finding ways to achieve work-life integration

• Sustainability: Creating long-term growth while avoiding burnout

• Personalisation: Tailored growth plans for individual leaders and businesses

• Fun, freedom and flexibility: Plans that design businesses that fit founders' lives, not the other way around

• Integrity and authenticity: Happiness can only be achieved if you're able to be yourself

• Growth and empowerment: A commitment to help individuals grow, professionally and personally

Customer Promise

A customer promise will reflect the type of business you're building.

It could be based around value delivery commitment, service standards, quality assurance, customer experience goals or a combination of all of these elements.

True North's promise is as follows:

"We are committed to helping you build a thriving business that aligns with your lifestyle and personal well-being. Through personalised guidance, sustainable strategies, and a deep understanding of your goals, we promise to support your journey toward lasting success — without sacrificing the freedom and fulfilment that matter most to you."

Go-to-Market Strategy - Your Action Plan

The final element of the Strategy Stack is your go-to-market (GTM) plan.

This document outlines how to communicate with stakeholders to drive growth and serves as your action plan.

True North can support your business through all phases of business planning, but GTM plans are my personal favourite. This is where we get into the details, covering the following:

• Target Audience & Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) – Clearly define your ideal customers, their pain points, and buying behaviours.

• Value Proposition – Articulate how your product or service uniquely solves customer problems and stands out from competitors.

• Market Research & Competitive Analysis – Assess market demand, industry trends, and competitor positioning to refine your strategy.

• Pricing & Revenue Model – Choose the right pricing strategy (subscription, one-time, tiered, etc.) to align with customer expectations and business goals.

• Sales & Distribution Channels – Decide whether to sell directly (e.g., online, in-person) or through partnerships, marketplaces, or affiliates.

• Marketing & Business Development – Outline how you’ll attract and convert customers (content marketing, paid ads, SEO, social media, etc.), including developing your role as a Key Person of Influence (KPI)

• Customer Journey & Experience – Ensure a seamless onboarding, engagement, and retention strategy to maximise customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• Operational Readiness – Make sure you have the resources, technology, and team to support your GTM execution.

• Metrics & KPIs – Define key success indicators (e.g., customer acquisition cost, conversion rates, lifetime value) to track performance and optimise strategies.

• Launch & Scaling Plan – Map out phased launch activities, testing strategies, and a roadmap for scaling after initial traction.

Integration and Alignment

To maximise the Strategy Stack, consider the business plan as the overarching approach.

Creating a master business plan document which integrates the MVV and GTM plans means you can refer to everything in one place, though keeping separate MVV and GTM plans for reference is also useful.

The GTM plan should be created as an action-oriented playbook and used as a dynamic, tactical guide which evolves as the business launches and scales.

Make it a habit to review and update your business plan and MVV documents at least twice a year to keep them aligned with your evolving goals.

The GTM plan should serve as an active weekly dashboard to track progress and ensure your efforts remain focused and in service of the strategic direction of the business..

And finally...

As the growth leader in your business, it's your responsibility to align strategy, culture, and execution to ensure the Business Plan, MVV and GTM Plan are actively followed.

You must set the strategic direction, lead by example, and ensure business decisions reflect the company’s ambition.

By monitoring performance, embedding the MVV into your culture, and driving execution through key measures and accountability, you'll successfully keep your business track.

Acting as 'front of house' for your business, you're also best placed to evolve strategies based on market shifts, allocate resources effectively and foster a culture of sustainable growth and long-term success.

If you'd like more information on any of the above, I'd love to hear from you at paula@truenorth-gp.co.uk.

In the meantime, TTFN!

Paula