Six Thinking Hats

Topic: Should we launch an Enterprise product line (To B business)?
Date: 2026-08-30
Facilitator: Director of Product · Ms. Wang
Participants: Product team, Sales team, Tech team, Finance team

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Blue Hat — Management & Control

Responsible for organizing the thinking process, defining the problem, setting the agenda, and summarizing conclusions.

Item	Content
Thinking Goal	Discuss whether the company should launch an Enterprise product line (To B business) in Q4, and reach a preliminary decision
Agenda	1. White Hat: Facts and data gathering 2. Red Hat: Intuition and feelings 3. Black Hat: Risks and challenges 4. Yellow Hat: Value and opportunities 5. Green Hat: Creative ideas and alternatives 6. Blue Hat: Summary and decision
Sequence Used	White → Red → Black → Yellow → Green → Blue
Time Allocation	Total 90 minutes, 15 minutes per hat

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White Hat — Facts & Information

Focus only on objective facts, data, and information — no subjective judgment.

Category	Known Info	Unknown Info	How to Obtain
Data/Facts	Current To C MAU 500K, pay rate 5%, ARPU ¥29/month	How large is the enterprise market?	Find industry reports + sales research
Context	200+ enterprises already use our personal edition (group purchases)	What are these enterprises' real needs?	User interviews + sales feedback
Key Numbers	To C annual revenue ~¥30M, growth slowed to 20%	What's the To B average deal size and CAC?	Benchmark competitors + estimation

Information gap checklist:

• Domestic mid-large enterprise count and SaaS penetration rate
• Competitor Enterprise edition pricing and revenue data
• Needs survey data from our existing enterprise users
• To B sales team setup cost and timeline
• How much development work is technically required for the Enterprise edition

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Red Hat — Emotions & Intuition

Express emotions, intuition, and gut feelings directly — no need for reasons or explanations.

Intuitive feelings:

• Product Manager Alex: Feels like an opportunity, but I'm not sure — don't know how deep the water is
• Sales Director Olivia: My gut says we should do it — several clients have already asked about it
• Tech Lead Ryan: My intuition says the risk is huge; To B customization demands will drown the team
• Finance Sophia: Intuitively, To B collections are slow, cash flow pressure will be significant

Emotional reactions:

Emotion	Level	Notes
Like / Agree	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Sales team is most enthusiastic, sees new revenue growth
Concern / Unease	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Tech and finance teams have more concerns, worry about customization and cash flow
Excitement / Anticipation	⭐⭐⭐	Some anticipation, but mostly cautious optimism

Intuitive judgment:

Does this plan feel like it will succeed at first glance? Why?

• Overall feeling is "opportunity exists but risk is non-trivial"; the key is whether we can control the scope of customization
• Sales team's intuition is most optimistic, tech team most pessimistic — this divergence is itself a signal

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Black Hat — Caution & Risk

Critical thinking, identify risks, flaws, and potential problems.

Potential risks:

1. Customization quagmire: Every enterprise client wants custom features — the dev team gets dragged down, and the product loses standardization
2. Long sales cycles: To B sales cycles are 3-6 months, large upfront investment, slow collections, big cash flow pressure
3. Team capability mismatch: We've always done To C, lack To B sales, customer success, and solution experience

Possible issues:

Issue	Impact Level	Likelihood	Mitigation
Customization demands spiral out of control	🔴 High	🔴 High	Strictly define standard feature scope; custom work goes project-based with separate pricing
Sales cycle too long, cash flow tight	🟡 Medium	🟡 Medium	Start with small customers first, shorten sales cycles, accumulate cases gradually
Team capability gaps, lots of mistakes	🟡 Medium	🔴 High	Hire a lead with To B experience to onboard the team quickly
Diversion of energy from To C business	🟡 Medium	🟡 Medium	Set up a separate To B team, evaluated independently from To C

Worst-case scenario:

• Invest 20 people for a year, sign a few small clients, revenue doesn't cover costs, team morale suffers, project gets cut, and it also delayed To C business progress

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Yellow Hat — Positivity & Value

Optimistic thinking, focus on benefits, value, and feasibility.

Core values:

1. Second growth curve: To C growth is slowing; To B can become a new revenue growth point, opening up larger market space
2. Improved risk resistance: To C depends on traffic; To B customers are more stable, don't rely on a single channel, and are more anti-cyclical
3. Brand upward movement: Serving enterprise clients improves brand professionalism and industry influence, which in turn helps To C business

Expected returns:

Return Type	Details	Value Assessment
Short-term returns	Sign 20 enterprise customers in Year 1, revenue ¥2M	🟡 Medium
Long-term returns	Reach ¥20M annual revenue in Year 3, 40% of total revenue	🔴 High
Added value	Brand improvement, stronger risk resistance, expanded team capabilities	🟡 Medium

Conditions for success:

• Market demand is real (enterprise customers already proactively inquire)
• Our product is competitive in enterprise scenarios
• Able to find a suitable To B lead
• Company has enough capital to sustain 1-2 years of upfront investment

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Green Hat — Creativity & New Ideas

Divergent thinking, propose new plans, new possibilities, alternative paths.

Creative ideas:

#	Idea Description	Novelty	Feasibility
1	Instead of a "full-featured Enterprise edition", start with a "Team edition" (small-team collaboration scenarios) to reduce complexity	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
2	Partner with a channel distributor; they handle sales and customer success, we only handle the product	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐
3	Select 3 existing enterprise users for deep co-creation first, refine the product before going to market	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alternative plans:

• Plan A (Aggressive): Set up an independent To B division, hire 10 people, go all-in on Enterprise edition
• Plan B (Steady): Start with Team edition, convert from existing users, invest 3-5 people to test waters
• Plan C (Conservative): Don't do it for now; focus on To C, reconsider when the timing is more mature

Possible improvements:

• Pricing model: Per-user subscription vs. per-module billing vs. one-time purchase
• Acquisition channels: Website leads vs. channel distribution vs. content marketing vs. offline events
• Delivery model: Pure SaaS standardization vs. light customization vs. full project-based

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Blue Hat (Summary) — Conclusions & Actions

Aggregate thinking results from all hats into final conclusions and action plans.

Final conclusion:

1. The Enterprise direction has value and can become a second growth curve, but risks are also non-trivial — the biggest risks are the customization quagmire and team capability mismatches
2. We don't recommend going all-in from the start; should adopt a "small steps, fast validation" strategy
3. Recommend combining Plan B (Steady) + Idea 3 (user co-creation): Start with Team edition, deeply co-create with 3 existing enterprise users

Decision result:

• Approved (Plan A — aggressive)
• Execute with modifications (Plan B — steady + user co-creation)
• Needs further discussion
• Rejected

Action plan:

Task	Owner	Deadline	Status
Select 3 deep co-creation partners from existing enterprise users	Product Manager Alex	2026-09-15	⬜ Todo
Produce Team edition MVP requirements document	Product team	2026-09-30	⬜ Todo
Hire 1 experienced To B Product Manager	HR + Product Director	2026-10-15	⬜ Todo
Launch technical pre-research, assess development effort	Tech Lead Ryan	2026-09-20	⬜ Todo

Next steps:

• Hold the second Six Hats meeting in mid-September for round 2 discussion based on research data and MVP plan
• If all goes well, launch Team edition development in Q4, closed beta launch in Q1

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Quick Reference Card

Hat	Color	Core Function	Typical Question
White Hat	White	Facts & Information	What do we know? What's missing?
Red Hat	Red	Emotions & Intuition	What does intuition say? How does it feel?
Black Hat	Black	Caution & Risk	Where are the risks? What could go wrong?
Yellow Hat	Yellow	Positivity & Value	What are the benefits? Why is it feasible?
Green Hat	Green	Creativity & New Ideas	What other possibilities exist? Any better approaches?
Blue Hat	Blue	Management & Control	What are we thinking about? What's the next step?