The Simple Steps To Improving Your Startup’s Revenue Forecast
“You’re not going to hit your numbers,” I said to “Josh”. “You’re way too optimistic. I’d much rather you underpromise and overdeliver, especially right now.
Josh is in the middle of a sale process for his company. He’s working with an investment banker to manage the sale process.
The sale process is going really well. There’s been lots of interest from prospective investors, and he’s received three offers to date, the largest one being an all cash deal for $300 million.
However, I’m worried because the economy has slowed, and, lately, Josh has been missing his revenue projections. Mind you, the company is still growing at a nice clip, but I don’t like the optics of Josh missing his forecast.
You always want to underpromise and overdeliver.
Josh had the classic, “back loaded”, revenue plan that I’d seen many times. In Josh’s case, revenue was growing for the past four months at a 30% average for the year. But his forecast for the rest of the year was for 40% growth, which is what he averaged for the last two years.
“What do you think I should do for the rest of the year?” Josh asked.
