businessstrategy

SWOT Analysis Generator

Produces a comprehensive SWOT analysis with strategic recommendations based on the intersections of each quadrant.

Prompt

Act as a management consultant specialising in strategic planning for [industry] companies. Perform a SWOT analysis for [company/product name] targeting [target audience/market]. Context: [brief description of the business, its stage, and current situation]. The goal is to inform strategic decision-making. Format the output as structured sections: (1) a 2x2 SWOT grid in a markdown table, followed by detailed analysis. Generate: Strengths: 5 internal advantages with a one-line explanation each. Weaknesses: 5 internal limitations. Opportunities: 5 external factors to capitalise on. Threats: 5 external risks. Then provide Strategic Recommendations: 4 strategies derived from SWOT intersections, one SO strategy (for example, 'leverage [strength] to capture [opportunity] by [specific action]'), one WO strategy, one ST strategy, one WT strategy. You must ensure each item is specific to the company and industry, not generic. Avoid vague strengths like 'good team'. Only include observable, evidence-based factors. Do not list more than 5 items per quadrant. Keep the tone analytical and objective.

Why this prompt works

SWOT analyses written without discipline are mostly stuff like 'good team' under Strengths and 'tough competition' under Threats. Two parts of this prompt fix that. First, the 'specific to the company and industry, not generic' constraint with the explicit example of what NOT to write. Second, and more importantly, the strategic recommendations section forces SO/WO/ST/WT intersection thinking, which is the bit most SWOT exercises skip. Doing the four-quadrant grid is easy; turning it into 'leverage [strength] to capture [opportunity]' is where actual strategy comes from. The prompt makes that transition non-optional.

When to reach for it

You're entering a strategic planning cycle and want a structured first pass to react to in the team workshop.
You're writing the strategy section of a business plan or board document and need a SWOT that doesn't read as filler.
You're new to a market and want to make your assumptions explicit before someone in a meeting asks 'what's our SWOT?'.

How to customise it

The 'context' field is what determines whether the output is useful. 'Series B SaaS company in HR tech, 60 employees, growing 80% YoY but with high CAC' produces a SWOT that maps to real decisions. 'Software company' produces filler. The strategic recommendation section is sensitive to your stated current priorities; if you're in a cost-cutting phase versus a growth phase, the SO and WT strategies will differ in tone and ambition. For mature businesses, ask the model to add a 'declining market signals' element under Threats; the default output assumes growth markets.

What good output looks like

A 2x2 markdown table summarising the four quadrants, followed by detailed lists of five items per quadrant with one-line explanations. Then four named strategic recommendations (one per intersection: SO, WO, ST, WT), each with a specific action. Total length 1,000 to 1,500 words. The recommendations are the most useful section to bring to a strategic conversation; the quadrant lists are reference material.

Watch out for

The default output gives equal weight to all four quadrants, but most companies have asymmetric SWOT shapes (e.g. strong on strengths, light on threats). If you sense the model is padding a quadrant to hit five items, ask for three or four well-evidenced points rather than five with one being filler. The recommendations sometimes mix up which quadrant intersection they're meant to use; check that an SO recommendation actually pairs a strength with an opportunity, not a weakness with a threat.

SWOTstrategyanalysiscompetitive strategyplanningChatGPT / Claude