"According To Plan"

It’s Q1 for a good portion of you out there, and it’s that time of year filled with new expectations, new quotas, and SKOs. Time to rally the troops and prepare them for the annual Battle of Competing Priorities and Budgets.

Like most conflicts, the planning you spent so much time on last quarter (and that some of you are STILL working on at this very moment) will not survive long. Some are already DOA and you may not know it.

If the steady stream of layoffs this year is any indication, many of your reps’ pipelines may not survive the next few weeks as their emails go unanswered; months of cultivating relationships up in smoke as their champions are suddenly looking for a new gig.

If you don’t want YOUR name on that list, consider this: there are 251 working days this year. If your reps have a $1M quota, then every day is worth $4,000 in revenue. Every minute that goes by off-target is $8.30 unbooked, unearned, and unrealized.

A Million Ways to Die in the West

On a good day, spreadsheets hide a million logic flaws. I’ve been in the capacity business for over a decade and have seen scaling plans from hundreds of companies. I’ve heard and seen all the mistakes.

Aside from crazy-ass ideas like:

• “We’re going to grow 8x this year. See, look at this chart!”
• “We don’t need to hire more people, we can get there if we just increase quotas 50%.”
• “Yeah, our sales cycle is 9 months, but good salespeople can hit quota in 5.”

…you still have to deal with standard issues like messing up formulas, accidentally overwriting a cell, mixing historical data and projections on the same sheet, and more.

“Knowing is half the battle!”

Chances are real good the plan you’re working to execute this year is nonsense. You know it, I know it, but the people who built it (probably your CEO & CFO) may not.

If you’re reading this, you're likely one of the few people standing between your company and the next successful fundraising round.

If you still want to be at the same company a year from now (cuz you KNOW your CFO won’t be fired if you can’t hit the plan he created), you need to give yourself a fighting chance by making sure you have what you need.

The first thing on the list is BurnRate.

By GTM leaders, for GTM leaders

Backed by GTMfund, we help you map out how many customers and GTM employees you need and see exactly when to acquire them, so you can hit your targets every time. That’s why we’re the finance tool for GTM leaders.

GTMfund LPs and portfolio companies get a free 1-hour consultation and 30% off our regular price. The best part is BurnRate pays for itself after your next rep hire.

So don’t leave 2024 to chance. Let my team and I take an unbiased look at your plan and point you in the right direction.