How do you get finance to allocate budget to programs that we haven’t proven out yet, but are experimental?

There are a few "how do I get money out of finance" questions in this AMA so I'll repeat the relevant parts each time, and try to add specific context where it seems additive. In my experience, Finance will usually allocate budget to projects if three conditions are met: There is available budget to spend There is a strong business case with compelling ROI to spend the money you are requesting That particular business case fits well into the priorities of the company We can go through each of th ...Read More

Help increase the chances of greenlighting your experimental programs by: Aligning and proposing the programs in line with Finance's planning cadence (e.g. qtrly) as early and as far out as possible Demonstrate the low cost of the experiment vs the potential upside of the findings, especially if the experiment is successful and subsequently scaled out Finance is regularly in the business of allocating budget, be it quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Make it easier for them to review your req ...Read More

Finance isn't afraid of risk, they're afraid of risk they can't see or size. Give them a structured way to say yes without feeling like they're handing over a blank check. Don't ask for a budget line, ask for a pilot. "Give us $X for 90 days, here are 3 things we'll measure, here's how we'll decide if it worked". Write a hypothesis doc, not a business case. Being upfront about what you don't know yet actually builds more credibility than pretending you have all the answers. Connect experiments t ...Read More

How I go about getting budget for these experimental programs really comes down to the CFOs style. If they are risk averse and very data-oriented, I will: - View From Other Side: Imagining their most frequent worry. Do they want numbers set in stone, or are they OK with a potential payoff and some risk? - Pilot: I recommend starting with a pilot. A smaller investment is easier to justify, and we want to get some proof of concept data. – Keep Flexible: In my offer, I state that we are prepared to ...Read More

If you are doing an experiment, then you should have a hypothesis that you are testing. To justify budget for this experiment, you need to share your hypothesis and test method with Finance in the form of a business plan. Example: Business objective: Increase sales of Widgets by $10,000 over Jan - Mar 2025 through the use of influencer marketing. Background: Sales of Widgets for Jan - Mar 2024 were $100,000. Target market = Identified Persona, who gravitates toward Influencer as an expert in the ...Read More