The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
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Saved by Ted Glasnow and
The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
Pinpoint your highest-impact bets, then go all in. Bold ideas need bold resourcing.
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
The five essentials ingredients to any company strategy document are:1. Mission - What are you meant to achieve2. Vision - What does it look like once you’ve achieved it3. Goal - How do you concretely know you’ve achieved it4. Strategy - What is the path to achieving it5. Strategic pillars - Three to five key bets that the company needs to make
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
Here’s our template for developing Key Initiatives:1. Strategy2. List of key projects3. Expected timeline and impact4. Resources needed5. Risks and dependencies
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
You can’t expect the organization to “just know” how to pull together a quarterly plan. Working without an agreed-upon framework can often be a recipe for disaster.
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
The framework is made up of four steps:1. Context: Leadership shares a high-level strategy with Teams2. Plans: Teams respond with proposed plans3. Integration: Leadership integrates into a single plan, and shares with Teams4. Buy-in: Teams make final tweaks, confirm buy-in, and get rolling
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
It’s important to challenge yourself and your peers to cut even the good ideas if they aren’t perishable (can be done later), strategic (don’t directly support this plan’s strategy), or differentiating (set you apart from your competition). Instead, put those resources against the top priorities.
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
The five essentials ingredients to any company strategy document are:
Mission - What are you meant to achieve
Vision - What does it look like once you’ve achieved it
Goal - How do you concretely know you’ve achieved it
Strategy - What is the path to achieving it
Strategic pillars - Three to five key bets that the company needs to make
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
The key to effective planning? Debate vigorously, but unite.
review.firstround.com • The Secret to a Great Planning Process - Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite
Teams (i.e. cross-functional product teams) are responsible for:1) Developing execution plans that support the high-level strategy2) Highlighting gaps & risks with the final plan3) Committing to a goal, with a given level of resources