Simple Pipeline Template
with stages, forecast and actuals
I’m frequently reminded about the value of building solid foundations in order to create longevity.
Nothing is more true than in your go-to-market motions.
When startup founders start speaking to prospective customers for the first time, one of their big challenges is concisely depicting for themselves, their team, and investors what the deal flow is looking look like.
Or more to the point, that they have a transparent handle on it at all!
Side note: TL;DR…..if this is too long for you or you’re in a rush, my pipeline template link is at the bottom of the copy, but please do come back and read at some point, the context is probably at least as important as the template 🙏🏼
I’m yet to see someone neatly extract all of the salient data from a CRM into a dashboard that meets the needs of the board - please send me your Tableau dashboard examples if you think you’ve cracked it!
Ultimately most companies rely on Sales Ops to set up and extract the data, but for early-stage founders, that’s overkill and a luxury in most cases.
Of course, there are great tools out there that help founders keep track of discussions and manage communication, for startups my favourite is Hubspot. However, even the best tools don’t make it easy to have a single view snapshot of everything:
Pipeline definitions
Pipeline stages
Pipeline stage forecast close rate
Opportunity company
Product type
Opportunity ARR
Forecast close probability
Forecast close value
The ratio of Pipeline to Forecast close value
Forecast to goal
Actual closed $ to goal
The template as a launching off point
Creating a launching off point will remove roadblocks, especially for technical founders and create focus around the things that matter.
The template addresses each of the above 11 points in a single sheet that’s easy to view on a laptop.
But to reiterate, this is simply a launching off point. Founders give this template a whole life of its own once they start using it, and use their superior GSheet/Excel skills to clean it up. But it’s a solid start point.
I’ve even seen AEs use this to augment the view they have of their own personal pipeline.
Here’s a link to the template, have a play around, ping me in the comments 👇🏼 if you have questions and I’ll try and get to them.
Wishing you a great weekend!
Wayne 🙏🏼
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