A Review of Dave Bailey’s Clarity Course
I just finished a 6 week course moderated and taught by Dave Bailey called Clarity.
The headline:
I 100% recommend any founder should apply to this course, and if they can get in — participate to the fullest.
What is Clarity, by Dave Bailey?
Clarity is a 6 week course*, where 12 founders** hop into Zoom and through an interactive session with Dave Bailey come out with clarity from better storytelling to managing your pitch to maintaining the day to day ops of your startup.
* (it was v1, so probably still in beta)
** (from Seed, Series B, and acquired startups)
(he also used a really cool plug-in for Zoom that allowed him to present a slide deck in-video)
Why would I recommend Clarity to any founder?
I know, as a founder, we get pitched so much snake oil. So, my recommendation here is truly from a founder to another founder.
Below is the problem-solution matrix, of why I think you need Clarity.
Your problems (and mine too):
- Lack of focus. There are a million things going on in your startup, how do you know what to focus on?
- Better storytelling. You can use an outside source to listen to your story, to really tell you how it is.
- You need an external mind. An external mind is sort of a trust-circle or accountability group that can help you navigate the difficult decisions.
- Better frameworks. What startup founder doesn’t love frameworks? We come across so many of them, but finding ones that work for you is always the best one. Have you found that yet?
The solution that Clarity provides (convenient name, Dave):
Clarity and Focus.
The course really drives in from day 1 on how to get you from mission to plan. Very simply through the 6 weeks, we were guided through:
- Mission — to help your customer achieve positive outcomes.
- Vision — here are the trends and how they’re playing out.
- Strategy — we’ll target this need at a price with this unique offer.
- Organization — heres the org chart and the budget for each team.
- Objectives — for the next 3, 6, 12 months here is what is in and out of scope.
- Key Results — we’re winning if we impact these metrics
- Plan — the specific actions we need you to do (your teams job).
Storytelling.
Sapiens are hardwired to remember and build stories, and as CEO you are the chief story teller. Dave weaves in storytelling at each phase of the 6 week course. We went through how a simple story can help you illustrate your customer need, vision, strategy, and company culture.
External mind.
I never realized how important having an external mind is, until I heard Dave Bailey explain it on the course. It’s so much more better when you’re there — as he drives you through the ins and outs of how to be a better external mind, and how to also ask leading questions to your external mind. Basically, an external mind is a person who can “unbiasedly” listen to your storytelling, your issues. Without bias just ask you questions so you can better get to the root of your issues. It was so refreshing to do that with the 12 other founders (and Dave) in the group sessions.
Frameworks.
Dave has a ton of frameworks that he guides you through, and actually I put it in use after the course. My Dad was about to give a pitch on a new idea he’s working on. I took out the framework that Dave had presented, and my Dad immediately had Clarity on the pitch and how to present it to the investors he was about to pitch to. Dave is a master storyteller and through his pattern recognition in his coaching practice his case studies are amazing to work through. Like this one.
The conclusion
All in all, Im a huge fan of Dave’s, the Clarity course, and hope to keep in touch as Sutro grows into a much larger company. The course really changed my outlook on the mission and vision of Sutro and more importantly how to present metrics, and the work that needs to be done to my team.
This is day 8 of my #90DayOfProse challenge
