My method, in plain words.My method
The CED.
The Dynamic Business Canvas.
Fourteen dimensions, not one more. A method created by Olivier Giry to think of a company as a living system — and the first step in structuring it. I take you through it in conversation, one dimension at a time.
The whole canvas
Fourteen dimensions on a single page. Each one carries its status — empty, vague, needs detail, clear — so you can see at a glance where your strategy holds and where it drifts.
Each dimension carries its status — empty, vague, needs detail, clear. Here, a strategy that has been worked all the way through.
Why it's different
It doesn't try to model your business. It reveals its inner logic.
A living system, not a plan
Your company isn't a sum of functions. The CED looks at it as a whole: fourteen dimensions that hold together, none of which makes sense on its own.
A mirror, not a form
It isn't a document to fill in. It's an honest reading of what works, what's running out of steam and what needs to change — blind spots included.
Qualified, so you can steer it
With me, each dimension has a status — empty, vague, needs detail, clear — and a clarity score. Your strategy has a visible level of maturity, not a vague impression.
The 14 dimensions
What we'll have looked at squarely, together, by the time we're done — and why each one is worth stopping for.
Vision
Where you're going, by when, and what you refuse to become. Without it, every trade-off starts again from scratch and the team decides case by case. It's the only dimension that gives meaning to the other thirteen.
What I look for: The concrete problem your company solves, your ambition in figures over 3–5 years, what sets you apart on the ground.
Targets
Who you're talking to, precisely: not “SMEs”, but who, with what problem, at what moment. A fuzzy target makes acquisition expensive and the message lukewarm. Half of all growth problems are solved here, before you touch anything else.
What I look for: Your ideal customer, mutual selection, the anti-targets you openly choose.
Offers
What you sell, with what promise and at what price. We check that each offer speaks to an identified target and delivers what it promises. One offer too many often costs more than one missing: it dilutes the message and clogs up delivery.
What I look for: Your core value that's hard to copy, 2 to 4 offer pillars, what you refuse to deliver, your proof.
Tech, Tools & AI
What saves you time, and what costs you time without you noticing. We count the tools, the duplicates, the re-keying, what nobody uses any more. It's often the quickest source of margin to win back.
What I look for: Your stance on tech, the role of AI, its link with your revenue, your margin and your productivity.
Revenue
Where the money comes from, and in what proportions. Above all, we look at concentration: a client who accounts for 40% of revenue isn't a client, it's a risk. This dimension tells you what you can afford to take on.
What I look for: Recurring or one-off, how revenue breaks down, your pricing logic, the risks in the model.
Costs
Where the money goes, and what that reveals about your choices. A budget is a strategy written in figures: if your spending doesn't look like your vision, one of the two is lying. It's a formidable consistency test, and a quick one.
What I look for: The main cost items, where to invest and where to hold firm, your financial discipline.
Human & Culture
Who you work with, and how work gets done: skills, roles, what gets said and what goes unsaid. No strategy survives a team that doesn't believe in it. It's the dimension that holds all the others up, or brings them down.
What I look for: The team you're aiming for, three living cultural principles at most, your role as a leader tomorrow.
Acquisition
Where your clients really come from — not where you think they come from. We put side by side what each channel costs and what it brings in. Many people discover at this point that they've been funding a channel that produces nothing, for months.
What I look for: Your real channels, your decision rule for any action, one concrete message.
Customer experience
What people go through before, during and after the purchase. It's what decides repeat business and referrals, and so your acquisition cost. The best acquisition channel is still a happy client who talks about you.
What I look for: What your client feels, the key moments, what builds loyalty and what drives people away.
Governance
Who decides what, and when. It's what gets a decision made rather than pushed back to the next meeting. Without it, everything goes up to the business owner, and everything slows down as you grow.
What I look for: Who decides what, your steering rituals, how decisions get settled.
Impact
What you leave behind beyond the figures: on your clients, your team, your sector. It's not a feel-good extra — it's what keeps good people and what sets you apart when offers look alike.
What I look for: Your concrete impact on your clients, your company and your ecosystem, how you measure it, what would be missing if you disappeared.
Identity & Communication
What people remember about you when you're not in the room. If your team doesn't tell the same story as you, this is where it gets fixed. A clear identity makes all your communication cheaper and easier to delegate.
What I look for: Your positioning in one sentence, your tone, the consistency between what you say and what you deliver.
Partners
Who supports you, and what you give them in return. An unbalanced partnership fades out on its own, without anyone saying so. Well looked after, it's an acquisition channel that costs almost nothing.
What I look for: Your circle of trust, your referral and delivery partners, your independence.
Admin & Legal
The framework that protects you, or holds you back: contracts, terms of sale, compliance, ownership of what you produce. Nobody looks at it while everything's fine. It's always too late once something breaks.
What I look for: Your legal structure, your contracts, your invoicing, your terms of sale, your intellectual property, what needs formalising now.
Never on your own
An empty form doesn't make a strategy.
Between the CED on paper and the CED with me, the difference is pushback. I ask questions tailored to your line of work, I point out hollow phrasing, and I turn down answers that commit to nothing.
See a completed CED →