Video · 25 min (video + transcript)

How to Manage Up and Have a Happy Board, Even When You Miss a Quarter

Aaref Hilaly (Sequoia Capital) · SaaStr Free Intermediate

A Sequoia partner says the quiet part out loud: the reaction to the miss matters more than the miss itself. Hilaly's move is to control the narrative by walking in with your own analysis already done, and to name whether the miss is tactical (a wrong hire you can fix) or structural (the market shifted under you) so investors calibrate to reality instead of imagining the worst. It reframes the update from a confession into you setting the new plan, which is precisely the under-promise-then-beat-it posture that rebuilds a track record.

• Own the miss and control the narrative: present the analysis upfront yourself rather than letting investors fill the silence with a worse story.
• Distinguish a tactical miss (fixable, like a bad hire) from a structural one (competition, market), because investors treat those very differently and you want them calibrated correctly.
• Put the board to work on recovery (intros, recruiting, product calls) so they are invested in the comeback instead of just grading the shortfall.