We have the short version and longer ‘if you’re gonna eat shit don’t nibble version’.
Short version
Less is more in communications with investors. Nail the whole thing down in really basic terms (see growth strategies) and coach your CEO like crazy not to get off script or opine. Just make sure CFO is prepared. If you have a good CFO, they will do this for you and you only need to simplify the go-to-market and market situation for them.
53 beta customers, 9 POCs, 3 in production, 456,782 revenue, 2.1M next year, 350M market in 3 years, #1 distribution partner. Don’t say anything that doesn’t have a number in front of it.
As an ex-VC, I could write a much longer piece here but for marketers, just make sure you have a good proven CFO and speak only when spoken to—that’s the ideal model.
Longer version about credibility & trust
“If you’re gonna eat shit, don’t nibble”. That is my favorite high-tech marketing quote of all time. Enunciated by a public company CFO that was crafting the press release to announce a major revenue and earnings miss after years of religiously hitting the quarterly numbers.
Without credibility and trust, you have nothing as a marketer.
If you’ve earned it, don’t fritter it away. Keep true to the brand promise and core values at all costs. Otherwise it will cost you everything (timeframes vary).
Assume that the customer is smarter than you. This is a safe assumption because they are in a digital, community-based ecosystem. If you assume this, you can admit your weaknesses so that the buyer finds you credible enough to hear your strengths. CMOs have a hard time convincing most CEOs of this.
At one company that I worked for, one of our corporate values was ‘trust’. The problem with trust is that is earned, not just practiced like many other values. The problem with things that are earned is that they take a long time to accumulate and often a short time to liquidate. Managements should take the Hippocratic oath “to first do no harm”. This would help keep the installed base installed, employees, partners and the media credible, first and foremost BEFORE considering improvements to the business.
Establishing and maintaining trust may well be the most important marketing discipline. It is certainly one of the most subtle, difficult, and overlooked ones.