How do you influence the C-Suite to get more resources?

Start with the customer and business problem you are trying to solve and get alignment on the priority to solving this problem. Oftentimes, the root cause of the disconnect is the timing on when to solve the problem.

1. Get alignment on the business impact for solving the problem (revenue, market share growth, geo-expansion, operational efficiency etc)
2. Get alignment that this is a priority to solve now. Don't proceed if this alignment is not achieved first. Spend the time to build the case and get alignment before you proceed
3. Once you have achieved both (the why and timing), then the resourcing ask will be what is needed to address the business objective

If you spend the time building the case including why it needs to be solved now, then the resourcing request will be a much easier discussion.

Here’s where you need to shift into an executive mindset. Good executives think in terms of costs and benefits and business outcomes they want to drive. And I’m not just talking about people in finance, sales and marketing – at the C-level EVERYONE thinks business outcomes -aka dollars and cents.

If you want more resources for something, presumably it because it’s something that’s going to provide benefit to the business. Perhaps it’s a new product, or commonly requested feature, a new module, a new service offering, whatever. The commonality is that there’s a business reason why you are proposing what we’re proposing. You need to frame your ask in language that the C-Suite will understand – again, dollars and cents. Forget about DAUs, uptime, defect escape rates, etc. Talk about that stuff and the C-suite’s eyes are going to glaze over. Translate those things into new customer acquisition, churn reduction, a lower AWS bill, etc.

Don’t know how to do that? No problem, partner with someone in finance. They can do this all day every day. And embrace some uncertainty. Your model will almost certainly be wrong. But who cares? If someone digs into why your model is wrong they are discussing your idea and the benefits it provides, and that’s already a win. You can iterate together and learn in the process. 

By bringing clear plans, having a track record of driving results, and not being known as a person who asks for resources to "build an empire". 

- I expanded on what a "clear plan" means in other answers to this AMA. To recap, it is a plan that is driven by global optimization, is data-aware, actionable and specific about results that will be achieved through execution on this plan.

- Having a track record of hitting goals and driving results in the past helps, but it is not a must for junior folks or folks who are new. Double down on the quality of the plan if that is you. 

- It's incredibly common to ask for more people/money without a good justification, or asking for more resources that are truly needed. Don't do it - folks will read through that.

Ultimately c-suite needs to allocate resources that generate business value. So I think the best way to influence that is to make sure what you are working on produces the desired customer/ business outcome, and/ or financial value.

Based on my own experience, we can do a few things that help influence the decisions our way.

• Good writing to clearly articulate your product vision/ strategy. When we tried to convince leadership to invest in a new 0-to-1 product, we wrote a short proposal that focused on:

  • What is the customer problem that we are trying to solve?

  • Why is that worthwhile solving for? Why should we get into this space?

  • Why is now the right time to get into this space?

  • How are we going to get started?

• Demonstrate execution velocity. In general, high velocity teams that release more and faster are more likely to earn executive trust. Yes, it’s output based but you cannot really achieve outcome without the output. I have not seen executives willing to allocate more to teams that are slow and don’t produce as much.

• Get a network of advocates. Goes without saying that before reaching the c-suite, you will want to gain the support from your BU/ functional leaders first. Having sponsor(s) for your idea/ work can help back-channel when necessary and help you get the support.

Before asking for more resources, you should wonder if you really need it?

Usually we think we believe that with more resources we will achieve more, but I truly believe that we achieve better outcome when we have more constraints. You don't always need more resources, most of the time you just need to have the right resources. In my experience I had way better products created by teams of 5-6 people that were really focused, rather than teams of dizains of people.

So before asking for more resources, the first question is do you really need them?