Build your first
Value Creation Plan.

Welcome to Six Degrees Academy. Let's make your Founder Clarity Session useful. Start with the future you want, establish where you stand today, then choose one question worth working through. These three guides help you build one Value Creation Plan. You'll keep improving it as you learn.

You may be testing an idea, making your first sales, or running an established business. Begin with your own context. Your private session is a focused hour. Bring one challenge and a small example. The discussion moves from understanding your situation to a useful decision, then a practical next action. You don't need to finish the whole course before the meeting.

Imagine the business three to five years from now. What should it do for its customers? What should your role and working week look like? Perhaps you want steadier income, a team that can deliver reliably, or more time for work only you can do. Describe what matters to you. These are ambitions, so keep them separate from results you've already achieved.

Now choose one meaningful outcome for the next twelve months. Make it clear enough to revisit. Add the role you want to play and the time or resources you need to protect. If a number is uncertain, say so. You don't need to invent a revenue target or share private financial records. Pause here and write your direction in the plan.

When booking, answer the five short founder questions in general terms. Describe your stage, what you offer, who buys, how the business earns money, and the challenge you want to discuss. Include what you've tried and the result that would make the next thirty days useful. Keep confidential customer records in your own files. A small, accurate example gives the conversation a practical starting point.

If you've paid and haven't booked, use the appointment link on the session next-step page. Check the timezone in the Calendar confirmation and keep the meeting details. For learning, use the Academy's enrolment link and join Classroom with the Google account you want to keep. Open Classwork, then Start Here, and begin Module One. Already joined? Open your existing class.

Your preparation notes stay in the current browser tab. They aren't sent to the Academy or saved automatically. Use Save editable copy to keep a file you can reopen later. You can also download a text copy or print your notes. Before closing, check that your copy is saved somewhere private. Finish this sentence: the question I most want to work through is. Add one example. Next, we'll make your business easier to explain and establish today's baseline.

A busy week can be hard to describe as a business. You post online, speak with customers and deliver orders. To make a useful decision, connect those activities. Write five lines: customer, problem, offer, revenue unit, and main delivery resources. If your business is still an idea, describe what you plan or believe.

Consider Maua Laundry, our fictional case. A cafe owner pays a weekly bag charge for workwear cleaning. Kitchen staff use the clean workwear. The owner may want predictable charges and reliable collection. Staff may want the correct clean items returned on time. Labour, cleaning supplies and transport make the offer possible. That describes the model. It doesn't yet prove demand or profit.

Look back at a few recent events. Perhaps you made a first sale, changed a price, invested in equipment, or faced a setback. Record what happened, when it happened, and the evidence you have. The aim is to understand how the business reached today's position. Keep uncertainty visible instead of rewriting the past to fit the future you want.

Choose a few measures that matter to your question. They might be paid orders, repeat purchases, cash after commitments, delivery reliability or available capacity. For each measure, record its value, unit, period and source. Label it verified, reported but unverified, estimated, or unknown. If records disagree, note the gap. An unknown figure can make collecting a reliable record the first useful action. Pause and record your starting point.

Now separate observation, assumption and target. In the fictional case, four cafe owners completed a paid trial this month. A dated purchase record can support that observation. More cafes will pay for another route is an assumption to test. A chosen number of repeat weekly orders by a review date is a target. Until it happens and is recorded, keep it labelled as a target.

Different evidence answers different questions. An interview can explain a problem or preference. A paid trial records a purchase under particular terms. A repeat order gives another observation about continuing use. Four trials don't guarantee four weekly customers, or prove that a second route will attract the same demand. State what each record supports and what remains uncertain.

Write one observation, with its source and date. Then write one assumption that matters to your next decision. Add the smallest useful test and a review date. If you have no sales, an observation might concern a customer conversation. Describe it accurately rather than calling it a sale. If a customer praised the service but didn't reorder, keep both records and investigate. Pause and add these notes to your plan.

Bring your five-line model, recent history and dated baseline to the session. Keep confidential customer and financial records in your own files. General descriptions and a small example are enough to begin. You don't need a perfect pitch. You need a starting point you can explain and a question worth investigating. Next, we'll choose the priority that most deserves attention now.

Return to the future you described and the baseline you've recorded. Which current constraint most deserves attention? You may want more customers, better prices, reliable delivery, clearer records and more cash at the same time. One session needs a practical starting point. Choose a question small enough to understand, work through and act on.

Trace the business cycle you actually use. Find a customer, agree the order, deliver, collect payment, and resolve problems. Your steps may differ. Ask where the cycle regularly breaks, what evidence you have, and what happens next. A specific recurring problem gives the conversation something practical to examine.

Let's return to fictional Maua Laundry. Nine of its last thirty orders arrived late. Keep both counts: nine late orders out of thirty total orders. Nine divided by thirty is zero point three, or thirty percent. That is the baseline in this case. It describes a problem. It doesn't yet tell us the cause.

Maua proposes a target of three late orders out of the next thirty. Three divided by thirty is ten percent. Compared with the thirty-percent baseline, that is a twenty percentage-point reduction. It's a proposed target, not an achieved improvement. Put it beside the baseline with a clear label. We still need to test what happens.

The team might suspect incomplete dispatch checks, an overloaded route, or late cleaning. Keep those explanations separate until there's evidence. Maua proposes a dispatch-checklist trial. Before a route leaves, a named team member checks the labelled bags and route details. This is a proposed action to discuss. We haven't proved that the checklist will fix late delivery.

Name an owner who has agreed to carry out the action. Confirm the money, people and time it needs, and keep it within available resources. Choose a start date and review date. Define what counts as late. Record late orders out of all orders during the test. Note changes in promised times, route workload or customer mix so the comparison stays fair.

An activity measure tells you whether the checklist was used. An outcome measure tells you whether delivery changed. Ticking thirty checklists doesn't prove that late orders fell. Look at the delivery record as well. Even an improved rate wouldn't prove that the checklist caused the whole change. A small sample, a quieter route or another change could affect the result.

Now sketch your version. Choose one problem, a baseline if you have one, a small action, the owner, a review date and a measure. If records are missing, your first action can be establishing a reliable baseline. Don't invent a number to fill the box. Pause and write one question you want to work through.

When a test ends, record the actual result even if it disappoints you. Decide whether to continue, revise or stop. Your question might concern pricing, cash timing, customers or records rather than delivery. Bring one small example and share only what's needed. The session starts with your context and focuses on one priority. Save a new copy of your Value Creation Plan. Keep returning to it as you learn.