Framework Starter Pack

Five of the most useful frameworks in business and dealmaking — each as a full chapter and a live Excel model you actually run. Free.

The Framework Starter Pack is the front door to the Business Framework Library's 467 models. Most framework guides stop at the definition and a tidy diagram. These five don't. Each comes as a complete chapter taught end to end, paired with a runnable Excel model — blue cells you change, formula cells that respond, a Read-me tab on each — so you don't just read what a DCF is, you open it, type in your own numbers, and watch the answer move. Free, from the author of the full Library.

What you get

Five complete framework chapters as PDFs, and the five runnable Excel models to go with them, plus a Start-Here guide that tells you exactly which lever to pull in each model to see it work. Every model has blue input cells you change, formula cells that respond, and a Read-me tab, so you can run the numbers on your own assumptions in minutes.

The five frameworks

• DCF Build Model — what a business is really worth, built from its cash flows rather than the market price. Nudge one growth assumption and watch the valuation flip.
• Business Model Canvas — your whole business on one page, with the numbers behind each block, not just sticky notes.
• LTV / CAC — whether the customers you buy are worth what you pay for them, and where the line sits.
• 13-Week Cash Flow — the short-horizon cash view that runs every turnaround and keeps a tight business alive.
• BATNA — your walk-away position, so you never enter a negotiation without knowing your real alternative.

How every chapter is built

Read one and you can read any. Each framework follows the same thirteen-section rhythm: the question it answers, what it is, who uses it, its anatomy, inputs and outputs, how to build it step by step, a worked example, strengths, limits and pitfalls, industry notes, how it connects to the other models, modern relevance, using AI on it, and a practitioner's checklist.

How to use it

Open the Start-Here guide first — it takes five minutes and points you to the one lever in each model that makes the lesson land. Then open a model, change the blue cells to your own situation, and watch the verdict move. Do that once and you'll understand why the whole Library is built this way: not definitions — runnable models.

Who it's for

Founders, operators, analysts, advisers and investors who would rather run the number than read about it — anyone who wants working tools they can use on live problems this week, not another glossary to skim and forget.

The bigger picture

These five are five of 467. The complete Business Framework Library covers all 25 categories — every one a chapter with its own runnable model, all built by the same practitioner so the whole thing hangs together as one system. Get the pack first; if it earns its keep, the full Library is one click away in the Business Framework Omnibus — all 25 books, all 467 frameworks, all 467 models.

By John Colley — Cambridge University MA · MBA with Distinction, Bayes Business School · 30+ years in investment banking, M&A and private equity.