Rewriting the Forty-Page Monster

Kayla and Tom review the first draft of the corporate revenue strategy in a Boston office.

Rewriting the Forty-Page Monster

Listen and choose the right answer

What is Kayla's main criticism of the initial strategy draft?

• It is too short and lacks detail.
• It contains boilerplate ambition without a real diagnosis.
• It focuses too much on mid-market tech firms.

What is the current payback period mentioned in the conversation?

• Around nine months
• Around fourteen months
• Around twenty-four months

What do Kayla and Tom decide to use as their core diagnosis?

• We sell to everyone, so nobody stays.
• Enterprise deals take forever to close.
• Our recurring revenue is too high.

Who originally wrote the sentence on the whiteboard?

• Tom during his first week
• A board member from Boston
• A junior rep who moved to Seattle

Listen again and complete the sentences

• Kayla: Tom, I've just read our new ____ draft, and honestly, it's forty pages of pure poetry.
• Tom: You mean it's well-written, right? I spent three weeks refining that ____ chapter.
• Tom: Well, the board loves high-level vision, Kayla. What else should we put in the ____ ?
• Kayla: We need a real ____ , not wishful thinking. Right now, our recurring revenue is flat and our unit economics are broken.
• Tom: Fair enough, but how do we ____ that actually appeals to investors in Boston?

Sources: photo by Vitaly Gariev on Pexels