Tell each director the moment you know you will miss, on a short call, well before the board meeting. Put the gap on the first slide in plain numbers against the plan the board approved. Split the gap into deals that slipped and revenue you lost. Bring a reforecast you expect to beat, the spending changes that go with it, and the new runway. Keep reporting against the original plan with the forecast beside it. Missing is common. Benchmarkit’s 2025 report puts median 2024 growth for B2B SaaS companies at 26% against a median plan of 35%. Not legal, tax, or investment advice.
This page covers a Seed to Series B company that has a board-approved annual plan and sees it slipping, usually after one or two quarters. For the meeting mechanics, read how to run a Series A board meeting. For the monthly email between meetings, read the monthly investor update template.
How often plans miss
| Finding | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median planned 2025 growth vs median actual 2024 growth, B2B SaaS | 35% planned vs 26% actual | Benchmarkit 2025 report |
| Median planned 2024 growth vs actual 2023 growth | 35% planned vs 27% actual | Benchmarkit via Maxio, 2025 |
| Median 2024 revenue growth, planned vs realized (ICONIQ private software sample) | 39% planned vs 29% realized | ICONIQ Growth via SaaSletter, 2025 |
| Median 2025 revenue growth forecast in the same ICONIQ sample | 38% | ICONIQ Growth, 2025 |
| Pavilion Pulse respondents who missed targets, Q2 2024 | 63% | Pavilion via SaaSletter, 2025 |
| Pavilion Pulse respondents who missed targets, Q4 2024 | 42% | Pavilion via SaaSletter, 2025 |
| MarkLogic quarters on plan under Dave Kellogg | about 90% of 24 | Kellogg, Kellblog |
These samples skew toward software companies well past seed. There is no reliable public benchmark yet for annual plan attainment at Seed to Series B companies. Read the rows as a base rate. Your board has likely sat through this conversation many times.
Fred Wilson, writing about budgets at 50 to 100 person companies, put it bluntly: “very few budgets are met in companies of this size.” He still has the company report against the budget, with a forecast beside it once the numbers drift.
Tell them before the meeting
| When | What you do | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The week you know | Call each director. Give the gap, the cause you know so far, and the date they will see the full reforecast | Rosenbloom, Founder Collective, 2018 |
| At least one week before the meeting | A 30-minute call per director to walk the agenda and hear objections | Suster, 2014 |
| Several days ahead | Send the pack with the plan, the reforecast, and the cash plan on one page | Pre-read timing in the board meeting guide |
| In the room | Bring early data from the fix and spend the time on next steps | Rosenbloom, Founder Collective, 2018 |
| Every month after | Report actual against plan and against forecast in the investor update | Wilson, 2010 |
Rosenbloom’s advice is to call each board member individually, walk them through the issue and your plan, and ask for their advice before the meeting. Suster calls “no surprises” the golden rule of board meetings. If a director pushes back on the call, you can change the proposal before the vote.
Rewriting the plan every month does damage too. Rosenbloom recalls board members who took copious notes and caught a changed revenue or cost forecast fast. Update the forecast when the facts change. Leave the approved plan alone unless the board votes to replace it.
Build the gap bridge
Start with one line: the plan said X, we delivered Y, the gap is Z. Then break Z into three or four pieces, each with a number and a name. Tag each piece as timing or structural.
Editorial example. A Series A company planned to grow ARR from $2.0M to $4.0M this year. The plan put midyear ARR at $3.0M. Actual midyear ARR is $2.6M, a $400k gap, about 13% below plan.
| Piece of the gap | Amount | Type | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two enterprise deals slipped to Q3 | $200k | Timing | Signed mutual close plans, procurement started |
| One new deal lost to a competitor | $100k | Structural | Loss review with the buyer |
| Expansion below plan | $50k | Structural | Seat counts flat at three accounts |
| One customer churned | $50k | Structural | Exit interview, budget cut |
| Total | $400k | $200k timing, $200k structural |
A timing piece can come back this year if the next step holds. A structural piece is gone, and the reforecast should treat it that way. Calling everything timing will cost you the board’s trust by the next meeting. Dave Kellogg notes that boards blame deeper problems on sales and marketing because those are easier to fix. Your bridge should say whether you think the cause sits in product, pricing, competition, or sales.
Reforecast to a number you can beat
Fred Wilson wrote in 2010 that forecasts are not an attempt to throw out the budget. The company keeps reporting against the budget, and the forecast shows what management thinks will happen. Wilson redoes the forecast mid-year or whenever actuals drift far from the budget, and again if the first forecast goes stale. In his words, the forecast “is not another budget you have to try to meet.”
In the editorial example, the structural $200k comes out of the year. The second half also runs slower than planned, so the reforecast lands year-end ARR at $3.4M against the $4.0M plan. That is 70% growth against a 100% plan.
| What happened | Response | Board action |
|---|---|---|
| Gap is mostly timing, next steps holding | Keep the plan. Update the forecast. Name the deals and the dates | Note it. Check the named deals next meeting |
| Structural gap, runway still clear of the next raise | Reforecast. Adjust hiring and spend to the new number | Discuss the spending changes |
| Structural gap that moves the raise or the runway | Reforecast with a cash plan and a base and delay case. Consider a formal re-plan | Vote on the spending plan or a revised plan |
| Ahead of plan with strong leading indicators | Propose a revision that adds spend | Kellogg: boards approve acceleration readily |
Kellogg’s advice on setting the plan applies to the reforecast too. Treat the growth rate as the number you are willing to be fired for missing. He would rather have the hard conversation about an aggressive plan in November than in July after a missed first half.
Attach the cash plan
Wilson’s first reason to forecast is knowing where your cash balance will land. The board will ask what the new revenue line does to the raise date. In the editorial example, the company holds $6.0M in cash. At the planned net burn of $350k a month, that is about 17 months of runway. Pausing three account executive hires brings net burn to $300k and runway to 20 months. Show both columns and say which hires you protect.
Run your own numbers in the runway calculator. Check efficiency with burn multiple vs Rule of 40. If the new runway is under a year, read when runway runs out before the meeting.
A VEN (Venture Executive Network) session made the same point from the raise side. Tie the next budget to the sales results you have already seen, and when an assumption changes, update the budget and every investor conversation together. That is session judgment, not a survey.
Run the miss conversation in order
Telling the board you missed
- Confirm the miss with the actuals, the pipeline, and the cash forecast.
- Call each director within the week. Give the gap and the date for the full reforecast.
- Build the gap bridge. Tag each piece timing or structural.
- Write the reforecast to a number you expect to beat.
- Build the cash plan for the new forecast, with a base case and a delay case.
- Choose the spending you cut and the spending you protect. Name an owner for each fix.
- Hold a 30-minute call with each director a week before the meeting.
- Send the pack several days ahead with the plan, the forecast, and the cash plan on one page.
- Use the meeting for the decisions: spending, hiring, and any revised plan.
- Report plan, forecast, and actual every month until the year closes.
Mistakes that cost the board’s trust
Letting the pack break the news. A director who reads the miss in the pre-read will spend the meeting on how you reported it.
Calling everything timing. If the slipped deals do not close next quarter, your second miss will cost more than the first.
Moving the plan instead of the forecast. Keep the approved plan as the reference so the board can see the full gap.
A reforecast with no cash line. Cutting revenue and leaving spend alone hands the runway problem to the board.
Fixing too many things at once. Pick two or three changes with owners and dates. A long list reads as a new strategy.
Firing the sales leader by default. Kellogg points out that boards blame sales and marketing because those problems are easier to fix. Check product, pricing, and competition first.
Pair with
Run the meeting with how to run a Series A board meeting. Report the follow-through in the monthly investor update. Show retention without spin using NRR vs GRR for the board pack. Board & governance covers seats and cadence.
Sources
- Benchmarkit, 2025 SaaS Performance Metrics Benchmarks. Ray Rike, 2025. Median planned 2025 growth 35%; median 2024 growth 26%.
- Maxio, What are the latest SaaS metrics benchmarks telling us?. 3 July 2025, on the Benchmarkit 2025 report. Planned 2024 growth 35% vs 27% actual 2023 growth; 2024 actual 26%, nine points below plan.
- ICONIQ Growth, Accelerating the Pace of Innovation: Driving Growth & Efficiency in 2025. Median 2025 revenue growth forecast 38% vs 29% in 2024, from ICONIQ private software company data.
- SaaSletter, Less Horrible Forecasts. Matt Harney, 6 Feb 2025. ICONIQ note: 2024 actuals about 10% below original plans (39% forecast, 29% realized). Pavilion Pulse: 63% missed targets in Q2 2024, 42% in Q4 2024.
- Dave Kellogg, Make a Plan That You Can Beat. Kellblog, 5 Nov 2014. Mike Moritz quote; made plan in about 90% of 24 quarters at MarkLogic; November vs July conversation; plan growth as what you are willing to be fired for missing; boards approve acceleration.
- Dave Kellogg, The Two Dimensions of Startup Performance. Kellblog, 30 Mar 2019. Control measured by misses against the quarterly plan and early-quarter forecast; boards blame sales and marketing because those issues are easier to fix.
- Fred Wilson, Forecasting. AVC, June 2010. Forecasts mid-year or when actuals differ significantly; forecasts sit beside the budget; reporting continues against the budget; costs often adjusted to conserve cash; keep updating; cash balance first.
- Fred Wilson, Budgeting In A Growing Company. AVC, May 2010. 50 to 100 person companies; “very few budgets are met in companies of this size.”
- Micah Rosenbloom, How to Break Bad News to Investors. 17 May 2018. Never let the board learn of a miss the morning of the meeting; do not rewrite the plan every month; call each director individually first; bring remediation data to the meeting.
- Mark Suster, Why You Shouldn’t Decide Anything Important At Your Board Meeting. TechCrunch, 19 Mar 2014. 30 minutes per director at least a week ahead; “the golden rule of board meetings is, of course, no surprises.”
- VEN (Venture Executive Network). Founder session on running a raise. Tie the next budget to observed sales results; update the budget and investor conversations together when an assumption changes. Not a survey. No closed-session numbers.
Related
- Board & governance
- How to run a Series A board meeting
- Monthly investor update template
- Burn multiple vs Rule of 40
- NRR vs GRR for the board pack
- Runway calculator with hiring plan
- When runway runs out
Founders who have walked a board through a missed year and a new forecast will pressure-test your gap bridge and your cash plan in a VEN session.
Go deeper: VEN guide to running against the plan