Build a business case

This is the core Serre workflow: pair a prospect with your value drivers, fill in their numbers, and walk out with a defensible ROI story. Six phases, shown as a stepper across the top of the case editor.

Create the case

Click "+ New Business Case" (it's always in the sidebar). Pick the company profile you're selling as and the prospect you're selling to. Serre titles the case "Your Company × Their Company" — rename it if you like — and opens the editor.

Phase 1 — Brief

Set the buyer context: persona, objectives, approval thresholds, and likely objections. If the prospect already has a buyer brief, the case inherits it — a banner tells you "This brief comes from the prospect…" with a "Regenerate brief" action (uses 1 AI Generation) when you want a case-specific version.

Have raw discovery notes? Paste them into the Discovery scratchpad and let Serre extract the brief instead of retyping.

Phase 2 — Drivers

Add value drivers from your library. For each one, you can set a buyer-facing name and rationale — your library might say "Ticket deflection," but this buyer should read "Fewer escalations to engineering."

Phase 3 — Inputs

Enter the prospect's actual numbers. Each driver's variables come in two buckets:

• "Discovery · confirm these" — their current state, learned from the buyer.
• "Improvement · our positioning" — the lift you're proposing.

Every variable shows its current value, where it came from (Scratchpad, Benchmark, Default, or Manual), and a confidence indicator. Defaults and benchmarks let you move fast; replace them with discovered numbers as you learn more — a case built on the buyer's own numbers always beats one built on averages.

Phase 4 — Calculate

Configure the investment side — deal term, annual price, implementation, training, and ongoing costs — and watch the live preview: annual benefit, ROI, payback, 3-yr NPV, and the conservative/expected/upside range. When the numbers are ready, continue — Serre stamps a snapshot, freezing this calculation. The case is now Generated.

Want to understand the math? See How Serre calculates ROI.

Phase 5 — Val Review

Before a CFO pressure-tests your case, Val does. The review lists red flags, suggestions, and passed checks, ending in a verdict — for example, that a four-digit ROI percentage will read as un-credible and the case may land better in benefits-only mode, which you can toggle here.

Phase 6 — Deliver

Everything you need for the meeting:

• An AI-drafted executive summary (regenerate any time).
• Exports — PDF, and on paid plans PPTX and Excel.
• A share link your champion can forward.
• Before the meeting — talk track, likely questions, and objection responses.
• A Companion email — click "Draft email" for a ready-to-copy buyer email.

Details in Export and share a business case.

If your library changes later

Generated cases keep their frozen numbers even when you improve drivers in your library. To pull in the latest formulas, return to Calculate and re-stamp. Nothing updates behind your back.