A venture brief is the document that captures the essential logic of a new business initiative in a form that a team can act on. It is not a business plan — those are too long and too detailed for early-stage work. It is not a pitch deck — those are designed to persuade, not to guide. A venture brief is a working document, meant to be used.
The brief should open with the problem. Not the solution, not the opportunity, not the market size. The problem. Described in the language of the people who have it, with enough specificity that a reader who has never encountered it before can understand why it matters.
The proposed solution section should be honest about what is known and what is not. At the brief stage, you are describing a hypothesis, not a finished product. The brief should make clear what assumptions the solution is built on and what would need to be true for it to work.
The customer section should describe a specific person, not a demographic segment. Who is the primary customer? What does their day look like? How does this problem show up in their life? What have they tried before? The more specific and human this description, the more useful it is as a guide for building.
The brief should include a section on constraints: budget, timeline, technical requirements, organizational limitations. Constraints are not obstacles to good work. They are the conditions within which good work happens. Documenting them explicitly prevents the common failure mode where a solution is designed without them.
Finally, the brief should include a clear statement of what success looks like at the end of the first phase of work. Not ultimate success — that is too far away to be useful. What does done look like in ninety days? That question, answered honestly, is the foundation of a productive working relationship.
