Opportunity Solution Tree Templates
Don’t start from a blank page. Each template is the Opportunity Solution Tree for a stage of company growth — validating a problem, finding product–market fit, building a growth engine, scaling — with the right outcome and the opportunities worth exploring, grounded in proven frameworks. Open one as a real, editable tree and make it yours.
Before you build — prove a real, painful problem exists for a specific segment. (The Mom Test, Customer Development.)
Who feels this most acutely, and how often? Narrow to those who can’t ignore it.
What are they trying to get done — learned from their last real attempt, not a hypothetical?
Tools, workarounds, spreadsheets, or nothing — what does the status quo cost them?
Will they switch, pay, or pre-commit — signals beyond a polite “yes, I’d use that”?
Become a must-have for a focused segment — Sean Ellis’s 40% test, plus a flattening retention curve.
Which narrow segment loves it most? Serve the demanding user first.
Why can’t the “very disappointed” group live without you?
What holds “somewhat disappointed” users back? Roughly half your effort goes here.
Do cohorts flatten, or decay toward zero? The truest test of fit.
Build a repeatable engine that compounds — a growth loop, not a funnel. (Balfour / Reforge, Casey Winters.)
How does one cohort lead to the next — content, virality, sales, paid?
What share of new users reach the “aha”, and how fast?
Do cohorts flatten above your costs before you scale spend?
Does lifetime value beat acquisition cost on your main channels?
Grow the value of every customer — net revenue retention, balanced with continued acquisition.
Where does value erode and customers leave — usage, price, a competitor?
Where can accounts grow — upsell, cross-sell, more seats?
Does pricing and packaging match the value delivered?
Don’t let expansion crowd out new logos as you scale.
A metric map, not a discovery tree: your North Star broken into the levers you can move.
Which channels and steps bring qualified new users in?
What share of new users hit first value, and how fast?
Who keeps coming back, and which cohorts decay?
Where does usage turn into revenue — and where do accounts contract?
An empty outcome with a few opportunity placeholders — the prompts show what each level is for.
Phrase it as the customer’s problem, in their words.
Another distinct need that, if solved, would move the outcome.
Keep mapping the opportunity space before jumping to solutions.
Not sure which stage? Most teams are mostly in one — pick where you are now. Outcomify creates it as a real, editable tree; adapt the outcome, keep the opportunities your own research supports, and add your solutions from there.
A head start, not a substitute for research
- Pick the stage you’re in and swap in your own measurable outcome at the root.
- Keep only the opportunities your customer research actually supports, and add the ones it surfaces.
- Now add a few solutions per opportunity, then let evidence — not the template — decide which to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Opportunity Solution Tree templates
Start from a template, build something real
Outcomify gives you a living Opportunity Solution Tree — pick the stage you’re in, swap in your outcome, and let evidence and Canopy take it from there.