Excel questions vs Powerpoint questions
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I owe a lot of my success as an entrepreneur to investor management, so I find myself helping other entrepreneurs with pitching and board management often. In these conversations I have found myself giving the same advice over and over again, and watching that advice transform presentations in real time like a rock thrown into a pond.
So for today's issue I thought I'd share that incredibly simple, powerful advice, as well as the story of the particularly frustrating board meeting in which I first learned it.
Hope you enjoy.
“What’s going on in Texas?” My investor, who we’ll call Tom (not their real name), leaned forward in his chair and squinted at the slide I was presenting.
We were 90 minutes into a three-hour board meeting, and I was halfway through what I expected to be a cursory explanation of our improving Customer Lifetime Value to Customer Acquisition Cost ratio (LTV/CAC). I’d planned to breeze through these quick operational updates (up and to the right, as expected), leaving plenty of time to have an important discussion about a potential acquisition target. The company we wanted to acquire had agreed in principle to our terms, but we needed the board’s approval to move forward.
Texas? It was a question so far out of left field it took me a second to recalibrate. “I’m not sure what you mean,” I ventured.
“Well, I see that in Texas your LTV/CAC ratio is way different than in the other states. It looks like down there it’s not even working. So what’s up with that?”
The easy answer was that we were ramping up a new salesperson in Texas. I started with the easy answer, but it just led to more questions.
“What happened to the previous salesperson?”
“How does our salesperson turnover look compared to last year?”
“Have we considered abandoning salespeople altogether and just focusing on marketing? Most software companies are marketing first, not sales first.”
The minutes ticked by as Tom dove further and further into the weeds.
I had answers to all his questions. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was that my CFO, CRO, CPO, and three other VCs who had carved time out of their schedules to be at this meeting, were all sitting around watching this back and forth. The issue was that we had (checks watch) now 60, now 50, now 40 minutes left in the meeting. The issue was that the whole point of this meeting was to get board approval on the acquisition. I felt myself getting frustrated as I tried and failed, and tried and failed again to bring us back on topic.
After 50 minutes, Tom sat back in his chair. The rest of the room was quiet. “Thanks,” he said.
We scrambled. I speed talked through some info and outright skipped the rest, and we began to discuss the acquisition with 30min left in the meeting. We ran 30 minutes over, but we got approval for the acquisition. Half of the attendees had to bow out of our customary post-meeting lunch to get to other commitments, including Tom, who was already on his next call as he exited the boardroom.
As the remaining five of us ate salads at the restaurant across the street, I asked about investor’s families and their other portfolio companies, while ruminating inside on how completely unhelpful Tom had been during the board meeting. Halfway through the meal, another of my investors, who we’ll call Ricardo (also not their real name), leaned over to me. “That didn’t go how you planned, did it?” My look must have served as confirmation.
“I bet you wanted to spend more time on the acquisition, rather than sales, right?” he continued. “Why do you think we spent so much time on sales? It didn’t really seem that useful.”
“We spent time on it because Tom thought it was important, I guess,” I said, noticing frustration in my voice. Ricardo had been a longtime ally, but I wasn’t prepared to be rattled in front of him. I took a breath, calming myself, and continued. “If he had been paying attention during our last board meeting, he’d have known the situation in Texas, and would have known it was irrelevant to the big picture.”
“But it’s not his job to know what’s important,” Ricardo said. “That’s your job.”
I felt my face flush.
“As investors we just assume that what’s in your presentation is the stuff that is important. On your unit economics slide you included data from each state, so my guess is that Tom naturally concluded that it must be important.”
I couldn’t help myself. “That wasn’t the point of that slide. The point of that slide was the high level LTV/CAC ratio, which was in big, bold letters at the top. The rest was just supporting details.”
“Well if you include Excel-level data, don’t be surprised when you get Excel-level questions. If you want Powerpoint-level questions, only include Powerpoint-level data.”
–
It’s been a decade since this board meeting, early in my career as a CEO. Since that time I’ve conducted dozens of board meetings, most of them more effectively than the one above. I’ve raised over $20m and won what was at the time the largest pitch competition prize in the world, both of these accomplishments chiefly the result of my developed ability to present compellingly to investors.
But nothing before that day or since has as profoundly impacted the way I communicate complex ideas to important people, than the distinction between Powerpoint- and Excel-level data. And the idea that sometimes, as the person who is responsible for steering the conversation where it needs to go, the most important part of your presentation is the detail you leave out.
Things I read this week
One: VNN to consolidate HS sports market (MIBiz)
It took longer than I expected (I remember my first pitch, in which I said we needed $250k to take over the market...lol), but VNN is finally being recognized as the consolidator of HS sports. Really proud of this team.
LINK >>
Two: Your life in weeks (WaitButWhy)
I'm reading "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals" right now (recommend), so this graph on the average life as seen in weeks came at the perfect time. A bit jarring, but in a good way.
LINK >>
Three: You actually should do something that scares you every day (RyanHoliday)
As a lifelong competitive athlete, the idea of cranking up the cold shower water "to do it. (to make) a statement about who's in charge," feels right on. Or it would have, to a previous version of me. The older (wiser?) I get, the more I see the opportunity to work with my nature, instead of overcoming certain parts of myself. These days, success = not resisting any part of myself, even the ones I find inconvenient.
LINK >>
Four: Beer companies are attempting to infiltrate our dreams (The Hustle)
You know what's a great idea without any possible side effects? Allowing advertisers into our dreams. You know, dreams. That place in which you "confront emotional dramas," "store important memories for life" and "stimulate your creative tendencies." Great idea.
LINK >>
Five: World #1 Ashleigh Barty retires from tennis at 25 (The Athletic)
Wow. As a tennis fan, this is crazy. As a human who understands what it is to follow your own path when others think it's crazy, more of this please. We have 4,000 weeks to live on this earth. Much too short to spend any of them living someone else's life.
LINK >>
Want to dive deeper?
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