Sprint scenario

A growing accounting software company has spent years building a SaaS platform around the everyday needs of small and mid-sized businesses—from bookkeeping and invoicing to reporting and financial administration.

Then an unexpected acquisition approach arrives.

Management knows the company's revenues, margins and product roadmap. But recent years have been heavily focused on developing the platform, while its understanding of changing customer needs has become less systematic.

As discussions with the potential buyer begin, a question emerges: could they see something in the business that management has overlooked?

Before going further, the company wants to understand where customer value may be moving—and what that could mean for the future potential of the platform.

That becomes the challenge for the Sprint.

Meet Faroud

Faroud is one of the fictional archetypes in the AI Business Council,  representing an experienced entrepreneur and investor now building his third venture. His challenge provides the starting point for this AIBC Lab Sprint.

The challenge

What is the buyer really buying — and what needs to remain true for that value to be realized?

Find the opportunity

What might the market see that we don't?

We start with what the company already knows: its customers, platform, usage patterns and existing proposition.

Using the Value Proposition Canvas, we turn the perspective around and explore how the jobs, pains and gains of business owners and finance teams are changing.

One pattern begins to stand out. Accounting software has traditionally helped customers understand and manage what has already happened. But customers increasingly need greater visibility into what might happen next—particularly around liquidity, incoming payments and short-term financial decisions.

That leads us back into the platform.

Among its existing capabilities is a relatively underdeveloped cash-flow forecasting feature. Until now, it has been treated as one function among many. Viewed through changing customer needs, it starts to look different.

Could cash-flow forecasting represent a bigger opportunity than the company has realized?

That becomes the hypothesis we take forward.

Make the opportunity tangible

What if a feature became a reason to buy?

We explore what cash-flow forecasting could become if it moved from the platform towards the centre of the customer proposition.

Rather than another financial dashboard, the concept could bring together invoices, expected payments, recurring costs and historical patterns to give customers a clearer view of their future financial position—and highlight where attention may be needed.

AI-powered simulations allow us to explore the proposition through different customer situations. A finance manager may want earlier visibility of liquidity pressure. A business owner may simply want greater confidence about the months ahead. An accountant may see an opportunity to move from reporting towards more proactive advice..

As these perspectives come together, the significance of the feature changes.

What looked like a forecasting function begins to suggest a broader shift—from accounting software towards financial decision support.

We make that opportunity tangible enough for management to explore what it could mean for the platform, its customers and its future positioning.

Prepare the next move

Could this change how we see the business?

We bring the opportunity back to the acquisition context.

The Sprint isn't intended to determine what the company is worth. Instead, it helps management understand whether an overlooked capability could point towards a larger source of future customer value.

What evidence would be needed to validate the opportunity? What would the platform need to do differently? Could the company credibly occupy this position? And might a potential acquirer see strategic value in capabilities or customer relationships that management has primarily viewed through today's business model?

The result is a stronger basis for both product decisions and acquisition discussions.

The question is no longer only what the company is worth today—but what someone else might believe it could become tomorrow.

Potential sprint outcome

Market Opportunity
An outside-in perspective on how customer needs are changing and where future value may be emerging.

Product Opportunity
A tangible exploration of cash-flow forecasting as a potentially more important part of the platform's future proposition.

New Title

M&A Decision Case
A clearer view of the opportunity, the assumptions that still need validating and its potential relevance to acquisition discussions.

More sprint challenges