Programs

Strategy · Facilitator-led

Build, Buy or Partner

One capability decision, weighed three ways

Five rooms: four guided documents and one simulation, run by whoever owns the decision, with the leadership team meeting in each room. Documents are built around the team's own decision and the simulation around each participant's role and seniority. Unlimited attempts.

5 rooms · about 2 hours 30 min

Start program

Who it's for: Leadership teams of three to seven facing one capability decision, such as a data platform or a payments function, chaired by whoever owns it.
Format: Facilitator-led
Program sessions: 5

Who it's for

Leadership teams of three to seven facing one capability decision, such as a data platform or a payments function, chaired by whoever owns it.

Output

A named real problem, a build, buy, partner or wait verdict with its killer assumption, a partnership go or no-go, and a board report built from both
A scored rehearsal of defending the decision to the board, with the moment that earned each score and unlimited attempts
For the chair, each document as it completes and a Ren summary ready for the next live session
Scored against published frameworks: the Minto pyramid principle and Aristotelian rhetoric; every other document is built from what the team states and pressure-tested by Ren

Program contents

Problem diagnosis · Problem Analysis
Sourcing decision · Make vs Buy
Partnership fit · Partnership Evaluation
Reporting the decision · Board Report
Defending the decision · Presentation Under Pressure

How the program works

A five-week program for the leadership team deciding whether to build, buy, partner or wait on one capability, chaired by whoever owns the decision, built on Renatus. Four document rooms and one simulation room · Five weeks, one room a week · Unlimited attempts · Ongoing thereafter.

The rooms

Problem Analysis

Framework

The team brings the capability problem from set-up, in its own words.

Make vs Buy

Framework

Calibration: the capability being sourced, its strategic role, what building, what buying and what partnering would each look like, and the hardest constraint.

Partnership Evaluation

Framework

Calibration: the named partner, what the partnership is meant to achieve, what each side gets, how decisions between the two organisations will be made, and what needs to integrate operationally.

Board Report

Framework

Calibration: the period being reported, the company's stage and context, the board's composition, the headline KPIs, where things are off-plan, the decisions requested and the material risks.

Presentation Under Pressure

Simulation

Calibration: role title, the audience, named as the board, the industry or sector and a line of working context, with the organisation's website as an option.

Why this program exists

A capability decision drifts when nobody owns the evidence: the engineering lead wants to build it, someone has seen a vendor demo, and three months later the board asks what was decided and hears three opinions. This program prepares the leadership team through four structured decision documents and one rehearsal. Ren tests the real problem behind the capability, weighs build, buy, partner and wait on the same criteria, tests the named partner on strategic fit and governance, and builds the board report the decision needs, before the chair defends it to a board member who has already formed a view.

What you'll achieve

A named real problem, tested against what it is costing, with a recommended path and next steps that carry owners
A build, buy, partner or wait verdict reached on the same criteria every time, with the killer assumption and the signal that would show it is wrong
A partnership go or no-go, tested on strategic fit, economics, governance and integration
A board report built from both verdicts, and a scored, rehearsed defence of it, with unlimited attempts

At a glance

Who it's for: A leadership team of three to seven with one capability decision to make: a data platform, a payments function, a sales channel, a manufacturing step. It is chaired by whoever owns the decision, typically a CEO, COO or chief of staff, who drives every room on the shared screen while the team answers. It assumes someone in the team can give rough costs for at least two paths, and that a candidate partner or vendor can be named by week 3.
Cadence: 5 weeks
1: Problem diagnosis · Problem Analysis · Read the Recommended Path and Next Steps; check the cause is one the team would recognise
2: Sourcing decision · Make vs Buy · Read the killer assumption and its signal; check every costed path has a floor and a ceiling
3: Partnership fit · Partnership Evaluation · Read the verdict and the governance answer; check it names who resolves a dispute
4: Reporting the decision · Board Report · Read Decisions Requested and Material Risks against the two earlier verdicts
5: Defending the decision · Presentation Under Pressure · Read Lead Argument and Question Response; agree what changes before the real meeting

Session by session

Week 1: Problem diagnosis

Establish whether the capability named going in is the real problem, and reach the root cause before any path is costed.

Problem Analysis

Week 2: Sourcing decision

Weigh build, buy, partner and wait on the same criteria, and land a verdict with the killer assumption named.

Make vs Buy

Week 3: Partnership fit

Test the named partner path on strategic fit, economics, governance and integration, whatever week 2's verdict said.

Partnership Evaluation

Week 4: Reporting the decision

Put the decision in front of the board in one document: the KPIs, the exceptions, the decisions requested and the material risks.

Board Report

Week 5: Defending the decision

Rehearse defending the recommendation to a board that has already formed a view, before the real meeting.

Presentation Under Pressure

One capability decision, evidenced in four documents and defended once, over five weeks.

Start program

Whether a market is real, where it is growing, and where the opportunity sits

How an entire industry is structured, who controls it, and where it is heading

Who controls a market, how they compete, and where the real gaps are

Who buys in a market, what drives their decisions, and where the unmet needs are

What competitors charge in a market, how pricing is structured, and what customers will pay

Who supplies the critical inputs to a market, how concentrated it is, and what switching costs

The technology deployed in a sector, and where competitive advantage moves next

How product reaches the buyer in a market, and where channel power is shifting

Financials, leadership, strategy, and reputation on a company

Deep dive into how a company operates strategically, and where it is most exposed

Revenue, margins, cash, debt, and auditor signals on a company

How a company is perceived across customers, employees, media, and ESG

Discover a country's GDP, political environment, infrastructure, and outlook

Discover a city's GDP, economic drivers, workforce, and trajectory

Trade flows, tariffs, agreements, and friction points between two countries

Background, current state, key actors, evidence, and where an issue is heading

What a policy does, who wins and loses, and how it lands in practice

The specific risks facing a market — ranked, evidenced, and with the signals to watch

Single-source exposures, concentration, and trade-route risk for a market

Climate, governance, social, and controversy risk in a sector

Pending legislation, enforcement shifts, and where the rules are likely to change

Licensing, compliance, recent changes, and pending legislation in a jurisdiction

Government stability, policy direction, and the political risks facing a market

What a role pays — verified across named salary databases and job posting data

Whether to take a job at a company, with the evidence behind the answer

Who the credible candidates are, what they earn, and how the search will unfold

How a career in an industry works — entry, paths, pay, and prospects

The three things that will move a business forward this quarter

A 90-day plan that turns a strategy into something a team can act on Monday

Segment, positioning, channels, and pricing — tested against each other so the four hold together

A positioning the market can place — and a category claim worth defending

A pricing strategy that the market accepts and the business can defend in negotiation

Dashboard, thresholds and owners

Dashboard, thresholds and owners

Targets, thresholds and cadence

Whether an opportunity is worth pursuing — with conditions or risks named

The real problem behind the surface one, with options and a recommended next step

How a business creates, delivers, and captures value — and where it is exposed

Where work is breaking, where capability is missing, and the one structural change worth making

Build, buy, partner, or wait — with the killer assumption named

Whether a specific partnership is worth pursuing — with the asymmetries named

The right financing structure for the opportunity — tested against fit, cost, and flexibility

A fundraise structured to close on terms worth living with

Every variance classified — structural, timing, one-off or noise — with the call the pattern demands

How long the cash lasts across three scenarios, with the killer assumption named

Whether the per-unit economics hold up — with the killer assumption named

Whether the pay set serves the talent strategy, with the cost of fixing it

A board report that lands the narrative, the KPIs, the exceptions, and the decisions requested

What metrics are missing, misleading, or quietly rewarding the wrong thing

A complete business plan ready to put in front of investors, partners, or a board

A career decision weighed against criteria that matter, with a pre-mortem and a verdict

What matters most, what you would give up, and what stays true under pressure

Which option holds up under income loss, rate moves, or a downturn

A relocation decision and plan, with the trade-offs each destination forces

What the culture is like — values in practice, leadership behaviour, and where the gap sits

Strategy clarity, alignment, talent density, ways of working, and trust in leadership

What's energising people, what's draining them, and the levers that would move engagement

The patterns in how a person handles pressure, conflict, collaboration, and decisions

PENDING — product being redesigned. See Replit brief.

How a person leads — defaults, strengths, blind spots, and development areas

Real strengths backed by evidence — and the cost each one carries when overplayed

The values revealed by what a person has held the line on, refused, or regretted

What every role owns, what's silently dropped, and which handoffs are breaking

Where the team is aligned on priorities and goals, and where dangerous gaps sit

Where trust, conflict handling, and accountability are strong — and where they break

Any subject explained to a real listener, scored on accuracy, depth, audience adaptation, and handling the unknown

A presentation rehearsal scored on lead argument, evidence, question response, and poise

A stakeholder-influence rehearsal scored on reading the room, framing, negotiation, and durability

A managing-up rehearsal scored on positioning, evidence, flexibility, and outcome

A meeting rehearsal scored on structure, air-time management, progress, and closure

The conversation that's been avoided, with an assessment of how the conversation went

A saying-no rehearsal scored on clarity, rationale, alternative, and relationship

A performance-conversation rehearsal scored on clarity, ownership, empathy, and path forward

A team-conflict rehearsal scored on directness, fairness, action, and aftercare

A hiring interview rehearsal scored on question design, follow-up, bias, and assessment integrity

A leadership crisis scored on decision quality, communication, strategy, and pressure response

A negotiation rehearsal scored on preparation, anchoring, concession pattern, and pressure response

A strategic-decision rehearsal scored on framing, information use, trade-off recognition, and time horizon

An ethics rehearsal where the right path is costly, scored on recognition and response

A prioritisation rehearsal scored on triage, trade-off recognition, communication, and revisability