Three V2MOM Examples

Companion piece to "The V2MOM: One Page to Run Your Business"

In the last post I promised examples. Here they are.

If you haven't read it yet, start with what a V2MOM is and why I use it.

First, a reminder of why I care. A V2MOM is how you put Clarity, Focus, and Urgency on one page. Clarity: the Vision and Values say what we're trying to do. Focus: the ranked Methods say what matters most. Urgency: every Measure has a number and a date.

I obviously can't share real ones. My clients' V2MOMs are full of revenue targets, customer concentration, hiring gaps, and the occasional uncomfortable obstacle (the best ones name a founder). They were written for their teams, not for the internet. So I did what I did with Friday updates: my BFF Claude and I wrote fictional ones. Every company below is invented. Every name, number, and obstacle is made up. The habits are ones I see across a lot of CEOs, at three stages you'll probably recognize.

1. The narrow one: Series A

Tollbeam (Priya, CEO): accounts payable software for multi-location restaurant groups. Series A, 42 people, $6M ARR. Fictional.

Vision. By the end of 2027, Tollbeam is the way restaurant groups pay their suppliers, and the obvious choice for a Series B.

Values.

1. Save the operator an hour or don't ship it.
2. Say it plain. A general manager should never need a glossary.
3. Bad news travels first.
4. Small team, big ownership. Every project has one name on it.

Methods, in rank order.

1. Win the multi-location restaurant groups. That's where we already win. Say no to the single-location shop and the national chain this year.
2. Get every new customer to their first paid invoice fast. Rebuild onboarding around that one moment.
3. Hire a head of sales. Priya stops closing every deal.
4. Keep the customers we have. Find out why groups leave and fix the reasons.

Obstacles.

Obstacle	Owner	Plan
Priya is still the only closer	Priya	Head of sales search launched by 1/15, started by 3/31
Onboarding takes 45 days because every group's accounting setup is different	Head of Product	Three standard setups shipped by 4/30
Two customers churned last quarter and nobody knows exactly why	Head of Customer Success	Exit call on every lost group, review at the 3/1 Monday meeting

Measures.

Measure	Target	By when	Proves
ARR	$10.8M (from $6M)	12/31/27	The vision
Net new ARR	$4.8M ($400K a month, $100K a week)	12/31/27	Method 1
New restaurant groups signed	96 (8 a month, 2 a week)	12/31/27	Method 1
Days to first paid invoice	14 or less (from 45)	6/30/27	Method 2
Head of sales started	Yes	3/31/27	Method 3
Gross revenue retention	90% or more (from 84%)	12/31/27	Method 4
Team members who can name our top three priorities	90% or more	6/30/27	The vision

What makes it good: The first method says who they're not selling to. That's the hard part of focus at Series A, and it's on the page where everyone can see it. The net new ARR number divides cleanly, so Priya knows on any Monday whether she's ahead of $100K for the week. At about $50K a group, 96 new groups is the $4.8M.

The mistake it avoids: A method with a number in it. The first draft of a page like this usually says "Grow ARR to $10.8M" as method one. That's the scorecard. It lives in Measures, and the method says how.

2. The handoff: Series C, building the exec team

Sablewick (Marcus, CEO): maintenance software for regional trucking fleets and the shops that service them. Series C, 260 people, $48M ARR. Fictional.

Vision. By the end of 2027, Sablewick is the system regional fleets trust to keep their trucks on the road, run by a leadership team that doesn't need its founder in every room.

Values.

1. The customer's uptime over our roadmap.
2. One owner over consensus.
3. The hard truth early over comfortable silence.
4. Write it down. If it isn't written, it wasn't decided.

Methods, in rank order.

#	Method	Owner
1	Build the exec team. Hire a CFO, a CRO, and a VP Engineering, and hand each one a real number.	Marcus
2	Win the mid-size regional fleets, where we already win.	CRO (Marcus until hired)
3	Ship predictive maintenance alerts to every customer.	CTO
4	Install the operating cadence: a Monday meeting, a monthly business review, and a Friday update, run by the exec team.	COO

When two methods collide, the higher-ranked one wins.

Obstacles.

Obstacle	Owner	Plan
Marcus is running sales and finance himself	Marcus	CRO and CFO searches launched by 1/15, offers out by 4/15
The founders disagree on whether to also sell to the repair shops that service the fleets	Marcus	Decide by 1/29 and write the answer into Method 2
Engineering velocity dropped after the reorg	CTO	Weekly delivery review starting 1/6, VP Engineering hired by 5/31

Measures.

Measure	Target	By when	Proves
ARR	$72M (from $48M)	12/31/27	The vision
Net new ARR	$24M ($2M a month, $500K a week)	12/31/27	Method 2
Net revenue retention	115% or more	12/31/27	Method 2
Exec hires started	3 of 3	6/30/27	Method 1
Each new exec's own V2MOM written	Within 30 days of start	7/30/27	Method 1
Predictive maintenance alerts live for all customers	100%	9/30/27	Method 3
Board pack out after month close	5 business days or less	3/31/27	Method 4
Team members who can name our top three priorities	90% or more	7/30/27	The vision

What makes it good: Marcus put his own name next to the method that's about replacing himself. The CRO line says "Marcus until hired," which is honest and comes with an expiration date. And each new exec writes their own page within 30 days, so the cascade is built in from the start.

The mistake it avoids: The obstacle nobody owns. "The founders disagree" is the kind of thing that usually stays off the page. Here it has an owner and a date, and the answer goes into a method.

One level down: the CRO's V2MOM (fictional)

Sablewick's first new executive writes a page within 30 days. Here is the CRO's. Same vision and values as the company's, her own methods and measures.

Vision. Same as the company's, plus one line: every fleet we sign is a fleet that stays.

Values. Same four. No edits.

Methods, in rank order.

1. Win the mid-size regional fleets. (Ties back to company method 2.)
2. Sell only to fleets that fit. Retention improves before bookings grow.
3. Build a team that can carry the number. Hire account executives and get them to quota quickly.

Measures.

• Net new ARR from new fleets: $16.8M ($1.4M a month, $350K a week) by 12/31/27. Proves method 1.
• New fleets that match our ideal customer profile: 90% or more by 6/30/27. Proves method 2.
• Gross revenue retention on new fleets after 90 days: 97% or more by 12/31/27. Guardrail for method 1.
• Account executives started: 4 by 3/31/27. Proves method 3.

What makes it good: Same vision, same values, her own methods and measures. Every method ties back to a company method, and the guardrail keeps the bookings number honest. She can't buy growth with fleets that leave.

The mistake it avoids: The copy-paste cascade, where the team page is the company page with the nouns swapped. Her methods are hers, and each one says where it ties back.

3. The integration: PE-backed, after an acquisition

Marrowfield (Dana, CEO): scheduling and dispatch software for HVAC and plumbing contractors. PE-backed, bought a smaller competitor this year, about 400 people combined, $72M revenue. Fictional.

Vision. By the end of 2027, Marrowfield is one company on one platform, and the system contractors recommend to each other.

Values.

1. One company. There is no "us" and "them" after day one.
2. Customers shouldn't feel our integration.
3. Tell the board the truth first, before they find it.
4. Spend only where it pays back.

Methods, in rank order.

#	Method	Owner
1	Move every acquired customer onto one platform.	CTO
2	Merge the two teams into a single org, with common titles, comp bands, and managers.	CHRO
3	Fix pricing and packaging across the combined base.	CRO
4	Take out duplicate cost.	CFO

Obstacles.

Obstacle	Owner	Plan
Acquired customers are nervous about migrating, and a fifth of them renew in Q2	VP Customer Success	A named migration lead for each of those accounts, renewal calls done by 3/31
Two engineering teams, two codebases, two cultures	CTO	One roadmap by 1/29, one team structure by 3/31
The deal model assumed cost savings by Q2 that depend on the migration	CFO	Re-baseline with the board on 1/15

Measures.

Measure	Target	By when	Proves
Annualized revenue at year end	$84M (from $72M; $1M a month, $250K a week of growth)	12/31/27	The vision
EBITDA margin at year end	22% (from 14%)	12/31/27	Method 4
Acquired customers migrated	100%	9/30/27	Method 1
Gross revenue retention, acquired customers	92% or more	12/31/27	Guardrail for Method 4
One org chart and comp bands live	Done	3/31/27	Method 2
New pricing live for all new deals	Done	6/30/27	Method 3
Cost savings, annual run rate	$3.6M ($300K a month)	12/31/27	Method 4
Team members who can name our top three priorities	90% or more	6/30/27	The vision

What makes it good: The guardrail. When a PE-backed company is chasing margin, the easy way to cut cost is to cut the people who keep acquired customers happy. Retention on the acquired base sits right next to EBITDA, so you can't win one by losing the other. And migration is ranked first because everything else, including the cost savings, depends on it.

The mistake it avoids: Numbers in the vision. The deal model wants the vision to say "$84M and 22% EBITDA." Those are measures. The vision says what kind of company you're building, so the team has something to believe in besides a spreadsheet.

What these three have in common

The same habits show up in all three:

1. The vision names a destination and a year. No numbers in it. Those live in Measures.
2. The values settle arguments. Written as trade-offs, they get used. Written as adjectives, they get framed and forgotten.
3. The methods are ranked. The order is the point.
4. Methods hold actions. Measures hold numbers. Each measure names the method it proves. If a method has a number in it, move it.
5. Every measure has a number and a date. No date, no urgency. Divide an annual number by twelve for the month, then the month by four for the week.
6. No single number carries the page. Pair the result you want with a measure that keeps it honest.
7. The obstacles are honest, and they get owners. The best ones name a founder.
8. It measures clarity itself. What share of the team can name the top three priorities?
9. It cascades. Same vision, same values. Each leader writes their own methods, obstacles, and measures.

One more thing

If you've read this far, you're probably going to try it. Most CEOs I work with start the same way: a blank page, and a worry that it will come out generic. The first draft will. That's fine. Spend twenty minutes talking it out loud, let it come back as a draft, and edit it. Then put it in front of your team on Monday and look at it every week.

You win because you finally made the decisions you had been deferring. Your team wins because they know what to work on. Your board wins because they can see the plan and the score on one page. And you win because you can stop being the operating system.

When you write yours, reply and tell me which method you ranked first. I'd love to see it.