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Both Sides of the Table

2 resources from Both Sides of the Table we point founders to, and the questions each answers.

📄 Article
Free Intermediate

Suster, a former founder turned VC, hands you the exact line for the advise-versus-decide boundary: when he disagrees with a CEO he says, 'I see it slightly differently, but you live in this business every day so I'll yield to your judgment. Let's revisit in 6 months.' That is the move in reverse: you can steelman your investor's push, name your disagreement out loud, then take the wheel and set a checkpoint, so no one feels steamrolled and the relationship survives the 'no.'

8 Tips To Get the Most Out of Your Investors and Board

From Both Sides of the Table by Mark Suster 12 min read

  • Board members advise, the CEO decides. Debate hard, then go make the call with your exec team, don't let the board meeting become an approval meeting
  • Formalize a disagreement with a revisit date ('let's check in 6 months') so a 'no' reads as conviction plus accountability, not stubbornness
  • Earn the right to push back forcefully by over-communicating and building a real relationship with each investor long before the hard conversation
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Answers One of my investors is pushing hard for a strategy I disagree with. How do I say no without burning the relationship?
✍️ Essay
Free Beginner

This is the original essay that coined "lines, not dots," the exact idea behind the opinionated answer. Suster (a VC who himself took 15+ meetings with a founder over two years before investing) argues that on a single meeting you are a dot with no track record, so a cold pitch during your raise is the weakest possible position. He tells founders point-blank to meet investors 6 months early, say you are not raising yet, and tell them what you will have achieved by the next meeting, so the investor watches you become a line.

Invest in Lines, Not Dots

From Both Sides of the Table by Mark Suster 9 min read

  • One meeting makes you a dot; investors gain conviction from a line of meetings that show you hitting what you said you would
  • Meet target investors months before you raise, explicitly say you are not raising yet, and state what you will have done by next time
  • If someone invests in you as a dot (fast, no diligence, max price), they are a dot to you too, and you barely know who now owns your cap table
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Answers How do I build a relationship with an investor months before I actually need to raise?
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