Who This Helps
You're a founder-operator who wants to make faster decisions without drowning in data. You need compact evidence to prioritize the next experiment—not a 50-page report. The Board Finance & Runway Narrative course is built for exactly this moment.
Mini Case
Meet Viktor. He runs a SaaS startup with 14 months of runway. His board wants one clear signal each cycle. Viktor used the Runway Trigger Tree mission to map three scenarios: base case (12% monthly growth), downside (flat revenue), and upside (20% growth). He set a trigger: if net dollar retention drops below 90%, pause hiring and reallocate budget to retention experiments. In 7 days, he identified the highest-impact move—a pricing experiment—and saved 3 months of wasted effort.
Do This Now (5 Steps)
- Pick one board-level signal for this cycle. Revenue growth? Burn rate? Net dollar retention? Stick to one.
- Sketch three scenarios in 10 minutes. Base, downside, upside. Write explicit assumptions for each.
- Define a trigger for each scenario. Example: if runway drops below 10 months, freeze non-essential hires.
- List your next three experiments in order of expected impact. Use the Capital Allocation Tradeoff mission to rank them.
- Choose one experiment to run this week. Commit to a 7-day test. Measure one metric.
Avoid These Traps
- Too many signals. One board-level signal beats a dashboard of noise.
- Vague triggers. "If revenue drops" is useless. Be specific: "If monthly revenue falls below $50k."
- No action branch. A trigger without a decision is just a worry. Write what you'll do.
- Analysis paralysis. Spend 30 minutes on scenarios, not 3 days.
- Ignoring the downside. Plan for flat growth—it's more common than you think.
- Skipping the tradeoff. Every experiment costs time or money. Use the Hiring Pace Guardrails mission to check your capacity.
- Forgetting to communicate. Share your trigger tree with the board. They'll trust your speed.
- Overcomplicating. A napkin sketch works. You don't need a spreadsheet.
Your Win by Friday
By Friday, you'll have a one-page trigger tree with three scenarios, clear triggers, and one prioritized experiment. You'll know exactly which move to make next—and why. That's the kind of clarity that turns a board meeting into a yes.