How to win executive trust

Elena Luneva Former CPO, Braintrust elenasletters.substack.com/ | Develop CPO-Level Skills

Key Quote

It turns out that Finance is the universal language of business.

Session Description

Product managers are increasingly expected to lead the business. In this session, Elena Luneva reveals how to break through the invisible ceiling that often holds PMs back: financial fluency. Drawing from executive experience, Elena will show you how to build product P&Ls, model ROI, and speak the language of CFOs and CEOs. Whether you’re eyeing your next promotion or pitching a new initiative, you’ll leave with practical tools you can use tomorrow.

Notes

Why good ideas die in the boardroom

The gap between being right and being effective is that PMs speak in customer and executives listen in finance.

Improve neighborhood discovery → $X Revenue opportunity Reduce friction in local connection → $Y conversion to paid Increase user satisfaction → Protect Z in current ARR Become a positive neighborhood platform → ROI in Q quarters

Instead of talking about a feature, talk about how that feature is a revenue platform.

The invisible ceiling holding every PM back: PMs speak fluent customer, but we’re tourists in the language that runs our companies: finance.

What executives care about

Two ways to answer those questions is with revenue modeling and business case modeling.

Revenue Modeling