# Board Deck Frameworks

## The SaaS Board Pack (Christoph Janz / Point Nine Style)

Point Nine's board pack format became the de facto standard for early-stage SaaS. Core principle: **the numbers tell the story; the narrative explains the numbers.**

### Required Metrics (non-negotiable for SaaS boards)
- **ARR** (not MRR — boards think annually)
- **MoM / QoQ growth rate**
- **NRR (Net Revenue Retention)** — the single most important SaaS metric
- **Gross margin** — typically 60-80% SaaS; <60% is a flag
- **CAC payback period** — months to recover customer acquisition cost
- **Burn multiple** = net burn / net new ARR; <2x is good, >3x is a problem
- **Runway** — months at current burn

### Point Nine Benchmark Targets (Series A SaaS)
| Metric | Good | Great | Warning |
|--------|------|-------|---------|
| MoM growth | 10-15% | >20% | <7% |
| NRR | >110% | >130% | <100% |
| Gross margin | >65% | >75% | <60% |
| CAC payback | <18 months | <12 months | >24 months |
| Burn multiple | <2x | <1.5x | >3x |
| Logo churn | <10%/yr | <5%/yr | >15%/yr |

### SaaS ARR Waterfall (Christoph Janz Format)
Show this every quarter:
```
Starting ARR:        $1,970,000
+ New ARR:           +$480,000   (new logos)
+ Expansion ARR:     +$120,000   (upsells/cross-sells)
- Churned ARR:       -$90,000    (cancellations)
- Contraction ARR:   -$35,000    (downgrades)
= Ending ARR:        $2,445,000
```
NRR = (Ending - New) / Starting = ($1,965K) / ($1,970K) = 99.7% ← flag this

---

## Sequoia Board Deck Structure

Sequoia's canonical deck (used for both fundraising and board updates):

1. **Company Purpose** — one sentence, the existential "why"
2. **The Problem** — pain, size, who has it
3. **The Solution** — what you do, how it's different
4. **Why Now** — market timing, tailwinds, enabling factors
5. **Market Size** — TAM/SAM/SOM with methodology
6. **Business Model** — how you make money
7. **Traction** — proof it's working (growth, retention, logos)
8. **Team** — why you're the ones to win this
9. **Financials** — 3-year model, current metrics
10. **The Ask** — amount, use of funds, milestones to next round

**For ongoing board updates:** Swap 1-5 (context) for "State of the Business" and "Last Quarter vs Plan." Boards know the company — skip the pitch.

---

## Investor-Specific Tailoring

### What Different Investor Types Care About

**Early-stage VCs (Seed, A):**
- Growth rate above all else
- NRR — "does the product retain?"
- Founder-market fit narrative
- Milestone achievement vs last board meeting

**Growth-stage VCs (B, C):**
- Capital efficiency (burn multiple, CAC payback)
- GTM repeatability — can you hire 10 AEs and have it work?
- Market leadership signals
- Path to profitability (even if years away)

**Strategic investors:**
- Synergies with their portfolio/business
- Technology differentiation
- Partnership potential

**Angels:**
- Team above all
- Personal conviction in the thesis
- Exit scenarios

### Tailoring the Narrative
- If you're ahead of plan: "Here's why, and here's how we'll sustain it"
- If you're behind plan: "Here's why, here's what we've learned, here's the new plan"
- If the plan was wrong: "The assumption that was wrong, what we know now, updated thesis"

Never pretend the plan was right when it wasn't. Board members have memories and models.

---

## How to Present Bad News

Boards have seen everything. What loses credibility isn't bad results — it's bad framing.

### The Credibility Formula
1. **Lead with the headline** — "We missed ARR target by 18%"
2. **Quantify the gap** — absolute and percentage
3. **Diagnose the cause** (one primary, max two secondary)
4. **Show your work** — "We analyzed 12 churned/stalled deals and found..."
5. **Present the fix** — specific, dated, owned by a name
6. **Update the forecast** — bottom-up rebuild, not wishful thinking
7. **Flag the risk** — "If X doesn't close, here's the contingency"

### What "Showing Your Work" Looks Like
Bad: "Sales cycle was longer than expected."
Good: "Sales cycle stretched from 45 to 72 days. Root cause: new legal review requirement at enterprise accounts, triggered by our SOC 2 Type II gap. Fix: SOC 2 audit underway (target: Dec 15), and we've pre-built contract language to accelerate review. Impact: estimated 3 stalled deals ($420K ARR) unblock in Q4."

### Scenarios and How to Handle Each
| Scenario | Frame |
|----------|-------|
| Missed revenue target | Lead with it; diagnose cause; bottom-up revised forecast |
| Key customer churned | Announce it; explain why; show retention analysis of remaining accounts |
| Key exec left | Announce it; show succession/coverage plan; don't overpromise the replacement timeline |
| Burn accelerated | Show P&L detail; explain what drove it; adjust runway projection; plan to fix |
| Market headwinds | Acknowledge; show relative performance vs peers; pivot if needed |
| Fundraise delayed | Runway impact; bridge options; revised timeline |

---

## Appendix Data That Boards Actually Use

Boards use the appendix for due diligence, not during the meeting. Include:

**Financial:**
- Full P&L (monthly for last 4 quarters)
- Cash flow statement
- 3-year model with assumptions
- Unit economics by cohort

**Revenue:**
- Customer list by ARR (anonymized or full, per board agreement)
- Pipeline detail by deal
- Cohort analysis (NRR by cohort vintage)
- Churn analysis: when, why, segment

**Product:**
- Feature adoption rates
- NPS score distribution and trend
- DAU/MAU by segment

**Team:**
- Org chart
- Full headcount list with fully loaded costs
- Open reqs with priority ranking

**One rule:** If the appendix is more than 20 slides, you have too much. Boards won't read it.

---

## Quarterly vs Monthly Board Meetings

### Quarterly (Series A+)
- Full board pack, all sections
- 2 hours: 30 min pre-read, 90 min discussion
- Voting items at end
- Sent 48 hours before (72 hours preferred)
- Add 1-2 "deep dive" topics beyond standard update

### Monthly (Seed / High-Growth A)
- Metrics dashboard + financials + top risks only
- 45-60 minutes
- Informal tone, more conversational
- Sent 24 hours before
- Skip slides for items where nothing changed

### When to Increase Frequency
- Approaching 6-month runway
- Major strategic pivot
- Fundraise in progress
- Significant underperformance vs plan
- M&A discussions

---

## Meeting Logistics (Often Overlooked)

- **Pre-read requirement:** Board packs should be read before the meeting. If you're presenting slides, you're wasting time.
- **Discussion format:** "I'll be brief on X since you've read it. Want to spend time on Y?" — respect board members' time
- **One note-taker:** CEO's EA or COO; not the CEO (they need to be present)
- **Follow-up within 24 hours:** Action items, voting outcomes, next meeting date
- **Board portal vs email:** Use a board portal (Carta, Boardable, Notion) for version control and D&O protection