Framework
SWOT Analysis
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
- Best for
- Strategy and positioning decisions
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Origin
- Stanford Research Institute, 1960s.
SWOT is a structured audit: internal Strengths and Weaknesses, external Opportunities and Threats. The value is in the pairing — matching a strength to an opportunity, or a weakness to a threat, is where the real strategy lives.
Use it when
- You're setting direction for a company, team, or personal project.
- You need a shared picture before deciding.
- You're evaluating a new market or role.
Skip it when
- You need a tactical decision — SWOT is strategic and wide.
- You'll use it as decoration instead of acting on it.
The steps
- 01
Strengths
What do you do well? What's genuinely rare?
- 02
Weaknesses
Where are you exposed? Be honest — this is where SWOT usually fails.
- 03
Opportunities
Which external trends are moving in your favour?
- 04
Threats
Which are moving against you?
- 05
Pair the quadrants
S+O = attack. W+O = build. S+T = defend. W+T = avoid or exit.
A worked example
"Should we expand to the enterprise segment?"
S: strong retention, small team. W: no enterprise sales muscle. O: legacy vendor collapsing. T: incumbents responding. Pair: S+O suggests attack, W flags a hire.
Outcome
Enter, but hire an enterprise AE before shipping the enterprise plan.
Where it quietly breaks
- Filling the grid, then filing it away.
- Confusing weaknesses with problems — a weakness is only relevant if it blocks a specific move.
Run this on a real decision — in Compass.
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