Show Your Work: Get Stakeholder Buy-in with a Portfolio Map

Who This Helps

This is for growth marketers tired of defending their channel plans. The Product Portfolio Strategy course gives you a simple, visual way to show why you're prioritizing one initiative over another. It turns your analysis into a story everyone can get behind.

Mini Case

Sam's team was stuck. They had five potential growth projects but couldn't agree on what to do first. Sam spent two weeks building a Portfolio Map—a one-page artifact from the course. It showed each bet's rough size and confidence level. In one 30-minute review, leadership approved the top two bets. The team started execution the next week, freeing up 40% of their capacity that was previously stuck in debate.

Do This Now (5 Steps)

1. List your active bets. Write down every project, campaign, or test you're running or considering.
2. Focus on what exists and what it costs. For each item, note the current team effort and budget.
3. Size them roughly. Use T-shirt sizes (S, M, L) to estimate potential impact. No need for perfect numbers.
4. Add a confidence score. Rate each bet from 1 (total guess) to 5 (rock-solid assumption).
5. Sketch your map. Plot your bets on a simple grid: effort on one axis, confidence on the other. The visual does the heavy lifting.

Avoid These Traps

• Don't seek perfection. Your first map will be messy. That's okay. The goal is clarity, not precision.
• Don't hide uncertainty. Low confidence isn't bad—it just means you need to learn. Flag those bets.
• Don't present a list. A spreadsheet of projects is overwhelming. A visual map focuses the conversation.
• Don't skip the 'why'. For each bet on your map, have one sentence on the strategic reason it's there.

Your Win by Friday

Your mission: create your one-page Portfolio Map. It’s the core artifact from the Product Portfolio Strategy course. Use it to frame your next stakeholder meeting. Instead of asking "what should we do?" you'll be showing "here’s why this comes first." You'll get from analysis to approved execution faster. And you might just save your team weeks of circular discussions. Go make that page!