name: cs-investment-case-builder
description: Builds the business case for CS investment -- headcount, tooling, programmes, or operational improvements. Structures the argument in CFO-ready language with ROI projection, risk quantification, and evidence from portfolio data. Use when asked to build a business case for CS resources, justify headcount, make the case for a CS tool, propose a programme investment, or when a CS leader needs to secure budget or approval from finance or executive leadership. Also triggers for questions about CS headcount justification, tooling business cases, CS ROI for leadership, budget requests, or how to make the financial case for investing in customer success.
license: MIT
metadata:
author: Stephen Rogan
version: "1.0.0"
standalone: true

CS Investment Case Builder

Builds business cases for CS investments in the language executives and CFOs understand: revenue impact, risk reduction, and return on investment. The most common failure in CS resource requests is framing the ask in CS language instead of finance language.

How to Use

Provide:
- What you are requesting (headcount, tooling, programme, process improvement)
- The cost of the investment (salary, licence cost, implementation cost, ongoing cost)
- The problem the investment solves (expressed as revenue risk, capacity gap, or efficiency opportunity)
- Evidence from your portfolio (capacity data, churn correlated to gaps, time analysis)
- The alternative: what happens if the investment is not made

Business Case Structure

The One-Line Summary

Every business case needs a headline that a CFO can read in 5 seconds:

"Investing EUR [X] in [what] will protect EUR [Y] in at-risk ARR and create capacity for EUR [Z] in expansion -- a [N]x return in the first year."

If you cannot write this sentence, the business case is not ready.

The Problem (in Revenue Terms)

Translate the operational problem into financial impact:

The Investment

State clearly what you are asking for:

The Return

Quantify the expected impact:

The Risk of Inaction

What happens if the investment is not made:

The Ask

End with a specific, time-bound request:

"I am requesting approval for [specific investment] at a cost of EUR [X] per year, starting [date]. The projected first-year return is EUR [Y] in protected and expanded revenue, representing a [N]x ROI. I would like to discuss this in our [next meeting/budget review/planning session]."

Output Format

## CS Investment Case: [Title]
**Prepared by:** [name] | **Date:** [date]
**Investment:** [what] | **Cost:** EUR [amount]/year
**Projected return:** EUR [amount] (first year) | **ROI:** [X]x

### Summary
[One-line headline]

### The Problem
[Revenue-framed description of the gap]

### The Investment
[What, cost, timeline, dependencies]

### The Return
[Revenue protected + generated + cost avoided]

### Risk of Inaction
[What happens without the investment]

### The Ask
[Specific request with timeline]

Quality Gates

• Is every number evidence-based? "Revenue at risk" should be traceable to specific accounts or portfolio data, not guesswork
• Is the ROI calculation conservative? An investment case with aggressive assumptions gets challenged. A case with conservative assumptions gets approved. Use the lower end of your estimates
• Is the "risk of inaction" specific? "Things will get worse" is not compelling. "Churn is projected to increase by 3 percentage points, costing EUR 180k in ARR based on our current renewal pipeline" is
• Would a CFO understand this without CS context? If the document uses health scores, NPS, or QBR frequency as arguments without translating to revenue, it is written for the wrong audience

Principles

• CFOs think in revenue, risk, and return. Every argument must connect to one of these three. "Our team is overwhelmed" is a staffing observation. "Our team's capacity gap puts EUR 340k in ARR at risk" is a business case
• Conservative estimates build credibility. If you project 5x ROI and deliver 3x, you exceeded expectations. If you project 10x and deliver 5x, you missed by half -- even though 5x is excellent. Underpromise
• The comparison to inaction is your strongest argument. The investment cost is not being evaluated in isolation -- it is being compared to the cost of not investing. Make that comparison explicit and quantified
• One strong business case builds a pattern. If you get a CS tool approved with a solid business case and demonstrate the ROI, your next request (headcount, programme, expansion) starts from a position of credibility. The first case is the hardest