Decision Clarity Brief
SampleCo has 9–10 months of runway at current burn, with signed customer demand that requires incremental hiring and product investment. Management is balancing:
- Board expectation to defend valuation through growth.
- Debt covenants that tighten if cash falls below a defined threshold.
- Leadership fatigue after 18 months of continuous crisis execution.
- Growth narrative and cash reality diverging by Q2 next year.
- Multiple "Plan B" ideas, but no single board-ready path.
- Runway model shared across teams is outdated by two quarters.
- Scenario discussions happening verbally, not model-driven.
- CEO and CFO both signalling exhaustion in 1:1 conversations.
- Important decisions being pushed between board cycles.
Replace all informal estimates with a single AILEDRA runway view – baseline, "defensive" and "selective growth" scenarios.
Use the model to choose between "extend runway" and "fund growth pockets" narratives – and align IC deck, board updates, and management talking points.
Define which hires trigger automatically when cash, pipeline, and gross margin meet pre-agreed thresholds.
Introduce Calm Power protocols: fixed "no-decision" windows each week and rules for what can or cannot be escalated between board cycles.
Tone for CEO: precise, low-drama, option-focused. Emphasise that the team has time-boxed the decision window and is choosing from structured scenarios, not reacting to noise.
In board communication: lead with runway math and thresholds, then strategic options. Make explicit what will trigger re-opening the decision (e.g. miss on ARR, change in debt markets), so the board understands when you will come back – and when you will not.
Avoid: mixing personal exhaustion signals into investor messaging. Those belong in closed leadership conversations, not in the narrative about the business.