16 March 2025
The Repeatable Playbook
Every time I start a new venture, I follow the same 16 steps. It’s not glamorous, but it works.
Successful ventures may differ in industry, audience, and delivery—but the underlying process that drives them is often the same.
While products evolve and markets shift, the method by which an idea becomes a profitable, self-sustaining business can be built on a structured, repeatable foundation.
Treating business creation like a repeatable recipe—rather than a series of one-off efforts—enables consistency in results. If a particular “recipe” consistently produces revenue, growth, and operational independence, the logical next step is to refine it, not reinvent it each time. The key is discipline: understanding which elements should remain fixed, which can be adjusted, and which must respond to the environment.
The following article explores the structured process behind building repeatable, revenue-generating ventures. This article outlines the pattern—breaking it down into clear, actionable stages that reduce guesswork, streamline execution, and improve long-term viability.
By treating venture creation as a method rather than a one-off event, founders and operators can approach each new opportunity with greater confidence, consistency, and control. Whether launching a new startup or refining an existing offer, the goal is the same: to create a business that generates revenue predictably and can eventually operate without constant founder involvement.
After building over a dozen businesses—across industries, models, and markets—some have failed, some have taught hard lessons, and others have produced exponential returns. But what matters most isn’t the variation in outcome. It’s the consistency in method.
Over time, I’ve developed a pipeline—a strategic process I rely on every time I move an idea from concept to cash flow. This framework helps reduce uncertainty, create momentum, and ensure that every venture, whether product-based, digital, or service-led, is built with clarity from day one.
Each stage demands something different. Below is a formal overview of what each step entails, alongside a personal note on how I approach it in practice. In short the steps are:
Idea
Research
Validation
Planning
Branding
Setup (Legal & Financial)
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Early Revenue / Engagement
Launch
Feedback & Iteration
Automate
Strategic Engagement
Hire & Delegate
Optimise
Scale
Exit
1. Idea
Formal Approach:
The starting point of any business is an insight: a gap in the market, an inefficiency, or a new way of doing something. This stage requires observation, curiosity, and pattern recognition.
Personal Approach:
I don’t chase ideas—I collect them. If I keep coming back to one repeatedly, I take that as a signal to dig deeper. I keep a dedicated space to document every potential concept and revisit them without pressure.
Formal Approach:
This phase involves understanding the competitive landscape, current solutions, pricing models, audience pain points, and market demand. It validates whether the idea is timely, viable, and differentiated.
Personal Approach:
I keep this lean but deliberate. I study adjacent spaces, not just direct competitors. I want to know what’s working, where people are underserved, and what assumptions are being made that I don’t have to accept.
2. Research
Formal Approach:
Validation is about confirming interest before building. It can include surveys, small-scale offers, early prototypes, or strategic conversations with potential customers or users.
Personal Approach:
I prefer real signals over theoretical ones. I might create a landing page, test copy, or take pre-orders. If I can’t sell it early, I won’t build it.
3. Validation
Formal Approach:
This is where the business model is mapped out: value proposition, customer journey, delivery structure, revenue streams, pricing strategy, and initial growth assumptions.
Personal Approach:
I write short, focused one-pagers—not decks. I clarify the core offer, understand how value is exchanged, and sketch the path from attention to transaction.
4. Planning
Formal Approach:
Branding includes naming, visual identity, tone of voice, and brand positioning. It must convey relevance, credibility, and differentiation.
Personal Approach:
I move fast here, but I don’t rush. I create brands that feel inevitable—not trendy. They need to speak on my behalf when I’m not in the room.
5. Branding
Formal Approach:
This includes registering the business, setting up accounts, drafting contracts or terms, and ensuring compliance. It forms the legal and operational foundation.
Personal Approach:
I handle this early to avoid future friction. I use templates, trusted advisors, and batch the administrative work into one clean sprint.
6. Setup
(Legal & Financial)
Formal Approach:
The minimum viable product delivers value in its simplest form. It must be functional, testable, and deliver the core benefit—without being overbuilt.
Personal Approach:
I build light. Enough to sell, not enough to perfect. If I can’t explain the MVP clearly in two lines, it’s not ready
7. MVP
(Minimum Viable Product)
Formal Approach:
This is where the business tests monetisation: pricing, packaging, user behaviour, and feedback. It proves whether people will pay and return.
Personal Approach:
I launch quietly. I listen more than I speak. I measure not just sales—but how people interact with the product or brand.
8. Early Revenue / Engagement
Formal Approach:
A structured launch involves going public—whether softly or at scale. It includes core messaging, web presence, communications, and onboarding.
Personal Approach:
I focus on resonance, not reach. The right message to the right people is more important than exposure to the masses.
9. Launch
Formal Approach:
This stage uses real-world feedback to improve the product, delivery, and experience. Adjustments are made rapidly based on data, not instinct.
Personal Approach:
I’m systematic here. I look for patterns, not one-off complaints. If something keeps surfacing, it gets solved.
10. Feedback & Iteration
Formal Approach:
Once workflows are stable, repeatable processes are automated—through systems, software, or delegation—to free up time and reduce errors.
Personal Approach:
I remove myself as early as possible. Anything I repeat three times is either automated or assigned.
11. Automate
Formal Approach:
The founder's role becomes focused on strategy, partnerships, innovation, or vision—areas where their input creates exponential value.
Personal Approach:
I stay close to momentum and creative direction. But I refuse to be the person everything depends on. That’s not scale—it’s a trap.
12. Strategic Engagement
13. Hire & Delegate
Formal Approach:
The business expands beyond the founder with a clear structure of ownership, accountability, and performance systems.
Personal Approach:
I build lean teams. I hire for clarity and ownership, not for volume. Everyone knows what they’re driving.
14. Optimise
Formal Approach:
Now stable, the business undergoes refinement: improving performance, cutting waste, improving user experience, and preparing for scale.
Personal Approach:
I treat this like maintenance. Regular check-ins, tool audits, and simplification. The goal is ease and efficiency.
Formal Approach:
With strong foundations, scaling efforts expand the offer, audience, or market reach—without breaking core operations.
Personal Approach:
I don’t scale to prove something. I scale when it makes sense, when the model is stable, and when the opportunity justifies the effort.
15. Scale
Formal Approach:
An exit may involve sale, licensing, team handover, or passive ownership. The business continues to operate without the founder’s direct input.
Personal Approach:
I build to keep or build to sell—but always build to let go. Ownership should be optional, not obligatory.
16. Exit
This 16-step pipeline outlines a clear, repeatable process for turning ideas into profitable, self-sustaining ventures. From identifying opportunities and conducting focused research to validating demand, building a lean MVP, and generating early revenue, each phase is designed to reduce risk and build momentum. Legal setup, branding, and strategic launch are handled early, followed by continuous iteration based on real-world feedback.
As stability increases, automation and delegation allow the founder to step back, optimise, and scale. The final goal—whether growth or exit—is always supported by structure. This framework enables clarity, control, and consistency across multiple business builds.
By Alyx Jordan