Skip to content
Playbooks

Topic guides

Running against the plan

On this page

Prepared by Venture Executive Network with editorial reading paths and planning prompts. Updated .

Use this guide when a company target depends on several teams, or when actual performance has moved away from the plan. Bring the current target, the observed results and the assumptions you used to connect the two.

VEN wrote this reading order and the review prompts. The linked Playbooks retain their own sources. The prompts help you prepare a discussion with your team; they do not establish a required meeting cadence or a proven operating framework.

Start with the commitment and the evidence

Section titled “Start with the commitment and the evidence”

Read Running the raise: tie the next budget to observed sales learning. That discussion connects proposed spending to work, sales timing and evidence behind conversion assumptions. Its context is fundraising. Use the distinction between observed results and projections when preparing your operating review.

Write down the target and period, the actual result so far, and which assumptions have changed. Keep a missed result separate from your explanation of it. Record what you still need to establish.

Check ownership and the work between teams

Section titled “Check ownership and the work between teams”

Read Building your executive team, including the ownership prompt following the opening discussion. Then use the sales management capacity worksheet where a revenue commitment depends on hiring or coaching.

For each proposed response, identify the person responsible and the other teams whose work it requires. Check whether those people have capacity. Record the customer or internal commitment affected if you change the priority.

Examine the constraint before changing the target

Section titled “Examine the constraint before changing the target”

Use Building a repeatable sales motion to examine customer fit, qualification and sales-cycle evidence. Use Customer feedback and early retention when onboarding, unresolved problems or support work may limit delivery.

These readings address different parts of the business. Use the relevant evidence to decide whether to change execution, resources, assumptions or the target itself. Record the tradeoff and who can approve it.

For a hiring or growth commitment that has not produced the expected return, use Reinvestment and founder dependence. Its services-business retrospective distinguishes an earlier successful hire from later spending that the writer says did not earn its costs. Use your own business evidence when assessing a similar decision.

Review the agreed work with the leader

Section titled “Review the agreed work with the leader”

In the executive-team discussion, the founder described agreeing on an onboarding plan and measures, reviewing progress and adapting the plan with the new leader. He also described hiring a capable revenue executive before the company was ready for that person’s skills, and taking responsibility for the mismatch. These are his accounts of his own practice, not verified results from a company-plan review.

VEN editorial application: bring the original commitment, the observed result and the changed assumption to the discussion. Ask the leader what work remains blocked, which other team must act and what decision they need from you. Record the response you agree to make. Keep a missed target separate from an assessment of the person’s effort or ability.

Company-plan review worksheet

Section titled “Company-plan review worksheet”

VEN editorial worksheet. We assembled these fields as a planning aid. The field names and sequence are ours.

COMPANY-PLAN REVIEW


Decision to make and person responsible:
Target, metric definition and period:
Actual result and evidence date:
Assumptions behind the target:
Observed changes and unanswered questions:
Work or handoff limiting progress:
Teams affected and capacity available:
Options, including what each would stop or delay:
Decision and approval needed:
Owner and next action:
Customer or board commitment to update:
Evidence to check and next review date:

Share the decision with the people whose commitments change. At the next review, check both the action completed and the result it was intended to affect.

For the resource decision, continue to Capital, runway and the board. For a delivery constraint, use Product priorities and delivery.

Section titled “Related VEN sessions”

Check each listing for the current date, status and access details.