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Ansoff matrix

Four growth directions on a two-by-two. Crude, and useful precisely because it forces you to notice you have only been considering one of the four.

The printable canvas and the handoff into Claude Code are part of a paid plan. See what a plan includes. It needs the Claude desktop app on this machine, and your team and the prompt library already installed in that project — we cannot see your disk, so open it there.

Stage
02 Explore
Works at
Corporate, Business
Maturity
Scaling → Large organisation
Time
An hour

What it is

Igor Ansoff's growth matrix: two axes, existing and new markets against existing and new products, producing four growth directions. It is deliberately crude. Its function is coverage — making sure a growth conversation has considered all four directions rather than the one the business is used to.

Market penetration
Existing products, existing markets. Sell more to who you already serve. Lowest risk, usually the first idea, and often genuinely the right answer.
Product development
New products, existing markets. You know the customers; the risk is whether you can build and support something new for them.
Market development
Existing products, new markets. You know the product; the risk is whether the new market wants it on the terms you offer.
Diversification
New products, new markets. Both variables unfamiliar at once. Highest risk by a distance, and the box where most value is destroyed — occasionally the only route left.
Risk gradient
Risk rises with the number of unknowns, not with ambition. Diversification is roughly the risk of the two middle boxes multiplied, which is why it deserves a much higher bar.
The mistake people makeAnsoff says nothing about margin, cost or survival — it is a growth tool only. Using it when the actual problem is profitability produces a set of options that all make the problem worse.
What it’s forYou need to force coverage of growth options rather than defaulting to more of the same.
What it’s not forGrowth is not the question. Ansoff has nothing to say about margin, cost or survival.

How you run it

  1. Define existing product and existing market preciselyThe whole grid depends on where you draw those two lines, and drawing them loosely lets everything look like penetration.
  2. Fill all four boxes before judging anyMost teams generate six ideas in market penetration and stop. The value of the grid is entirely in forcing the other three.
  3. Rate risk by how much is newPenetration risks least, diversification most, and the two middle boxes sit between. Risk rises with the number of unfamiliar variables, not with ambition.
  4. Check the balanceA shortlist entirely from one quadrant is not a growth strategy, it is a habit. Equally, a plan weighted to diversification from a weak core is a way to lose money in several places at once.
  5. Take the survivors somewhere sharperAnsoff generates and coarsely sorts. It does not evaluate — carry the shortlist into scenario testing or a scoring tool.

The prompt

Two ways to run it

Run this tool in your own Claude

The short prompt starts your partner against the library on your disk. The long one carries everything with it and needs nothing installed.

🔒 Prompt locked

Everything above is free — what this tool is, what it is for, what it is not for, and how to run it as a workshop. Three tool prompts a month are free with an account; beyond three, and for the printable canvas, it is the paid part.

See plans — from £19 a month

Your playbook

It lands in the earliest stage this tool suits. Move it on the Playbook page.

You’ll need

  • A clear view of your current products and markets
  • Some sense of adjacent markets you could reach
  • Willingness to consider the uncomfortable quadrant

You’ll end up with

  • Options generated in all four quadrants
  • Each rated for risk and for fit
  • A shortlist that is not all from one box

Runs well with

AI opportunity mapAnalysis planAssumption mappingAssumption stress test