Start by brainstorming what assumptions would need to be true in order for your solution, scale strategy and model to work. Consider:

• What parts of your solution, strategy, or scale model are untested?
• What are your biggest unknowns?
• What feels like the biggest risks to your success?

One example of an assumption that is important for sustainability could be “our target users will want to pay for the solution”.

You can use the Value, Impact, and Sustainability framework to help you brainstorm different types of assumptions. For more info on this framework, go to our Sweet Spot for Scale tool.

Ensure that each assumption you have identified is broken down even further, into more detail, to ensure it as concise as can be.

For example, if your starting assumption is ‘Users will pay for this model’, you can break this down into:

• ‘Users are interested in the model’ 
• ‘Users will have the means to pay for it’

Another example of an assumption that can be further broken down is “Others can implement the core of our solution effectively”. This can be broken down into:

• ‘We’ve defined the ‘core’ of our solution’
• ‘We’ve explained it in a way that others can understand it’
• ‘We’ve systemised the materials for others to deliver it’
• ‘We offer sufficient support to implementors to ensure quality delivery’

Move on to prioritising your assumptions by plotting them on this matrix, which you can open here. Remember, to work on it, make a copy to your own Google Drive folder or download a copy to your desktop.

Consider the assumptions categorised in the top right corner of the matrix which are those that pose the highest risk and are most uncertain, and move on to designing real-life tests for your priority assumptions with our next tool – Test Risky Assumptions.