# Your 2027 plan is your 2026 engine in a new suit

> **TL;DR.** Every November the planning spreadsheet takes this year's actuals, adds 15 to 25 percent, and spreads it across twelve months. That number has no reason attached. Start instead with the engine number: this year minus the deals that needed the founder in the room, the one-off wins, and the churn you already know about. Add back only named, dated changes, starting with the customers you already have. Keep the stretch number, but call it what it is; the gap between the plan number and the ambition number is the size of the work.

Every November the same spreadsheet gets built. This year's actuals in one column. A growth rate in a cell up top, usually somewhere between 15 and 25 percent. Twelve months across, the new number spread evenly, a little heavier in Q4 because Q4 is always heavier.

Nobody asks which of this year's deals the founder closed personally. Nobody asks which of the top accounts were never asked for more. The number goes to the bank, the board or the leadership offsite, and everybody nods.

A number with no change attached is a wish in business attire.

## The number is the easy part

Last year plus a percentage feels like planning. It has a cell, a formula and a chart that goes up and to the right. What it doesn't have is a reason.

Run the same engine next year and you get roughly this year's number again. A little more if the market helps. A little less if it doesn't. The 20 percent isn't coming from the engine. It's last year's engine in a new suit.

And the plan hides something worse: the engine is usually smaller than this year's actuals make it look.

## The engine number

Before you add anything, subtract three things.

**The founder's deals.** Pull out every dollar of new revenue you closed yourself, or that the one person everyone hands the big deals to closed. Not the ones you "helped with." The ones that would not have signed without you in the room.

*this is usually the number nobody wants to say out loud.*

**The one-off wins.** The project that won't repeat. The account that bought once because of a fire on their side. The referral from a relationship that has since retired.

**The churn you already know about.** The customer who told your account lead in September they're going out to bid. The one whose champion left. You know who they are.

What's left is the engine number: what the business produces when it runs on its people, its process and its customers, not on you. For a lot of founder-led firms, that number is a surprise.

That's not bad news. That's the real starting line.

## Named, dated changes

Now add back, one line at a time, only what you are actually going to change.

Each line gets three things: what changes, who owns it, and the month it starts. "Improve marketing" is not a line. "The two largest accounts get a growth conversation in January, run by the account lead, not me" is a line.

Start with the customers you already have. In the seats I've run, 60 to 80 percent of the lift came from existing customers, not new logos. They already trust you, they already pay you, and most of them have never been asked what else they need. It's the cheapest growth in the building, and it's usually the most ignored, because the plan was busy chasing new names.

Then the handoffs. The deal the founder closes alone becomes a deal the founder closes with someone, then a deal that someone closes. That's a line with a quarter on it, not a hope.

Add the lines to the engine number. That's next year's plan number, and every dollar in it has a name on it.

## Keep the stretch number

Here's the pushback, and it's a fair one: stretch goals work. Teams rise to a big number. A plan built from the baseline up sandbags growth, and a board reads a modest number as low ambition.

Keep the stretch number. Just stop calling it a forecast.

Run two numbers. The plan number, built from the engine plus named changes. The ambition number, the one you'd put in front of the board on a good day. Put them side by side.

The gap between them is the size of the work. That's the only thing a stretch goal was ever supposed to produce: a list of what has to be true to get there. Most plans hide that gap inside a growth rate, where nobody has to own it.

When the gap is small, great. Go execute. When it's big, you have two honest choices: do the engine work that closes it, or write a smaller number.

Either one is a plan. Twenty percent on last year's engine is not.

## Sizing the gap

Most owners can do the three subtractions in an afternoon with the CRM and a cup of coffee...if the CRM is honest. The harder part is the second half: knowing which changes the engine can actually absorb next year, and in what order. That takes walking the engine end to end, from the first conversation to the renewal, and looking under the hood before the plan gets locked.

Two minutes, eight questions: the scorecard at FixYourRevenueEngine.com/scorecard tells you where to look first. And if you'd rather have someone look under the hood with you before the number goes to the bank, grab a time at FixYourRevenueEngine.com/contact.

## FAQ

### What's wrong with setting next year's target as a percentage over this year?
Nothing, as an ambition. As a forecast, it assumes the engine that produced this year will produce more next year without changing anything. Unless you name what changes, who owns it and when, the percentage is a wish. Build the forecast from the engine number plus named, dated changes.

### How do I separate what the founder closes from what the team can repeat?
Go deal by deal through this year's closed-won list. Mark every deal where the founder, or the single rainmaker, was the reason it signed, not just someone in the room. Total those. What's left is what the team repeats today. Most owners find it's lower than they assumed.

### Should I still set a stretch goal?
Yes. Set it next to the engine number, not in place of it. The gap between them is your work list for the year. A stretch goal that doesn't produce a work list is just a bigger wish.