My friend Donnell is a serial Chief of Staff.

We caught up recently, and like the nerds we are, we talked about business reviews - quarterly and monthly.

We both agreed that companies need some type of review cycle, but it's rare to find one that does them effectively. When thinking about why, it’s pretty clear:

There isn't a lot of good content written on what effective quarterly business reviews or monthly business reviews actually look like.

Most operators are winging it, copying templates from companies that may or may not be at their stage, or worse - turning these critical alignment moments into update theater.

Startups would significantly benefit from running quarterly and monthly business reviews. Things move so fast that it becomes a forcing function to ask ourselves: are we still betting on the most important things driving the needle?

Unfortunately, most startups hate business reviews, because they think QBRs and MBRs are for stuffy, old companies that move slowly.

This can be true, if done incorrectly! But when you do them right, magic happens. You learn from your mistakes, or avoid making them in the first place. You collaborate with other people, which means there are more ideas and room for creativity. And most importantly, you have a touchpoint to reflect on what’s happened, which can inform future decisions.

Let’s talk about how to make business review cycles work for startups. This edition was done in collaboration with Donnell based on his insights - thanks for your inputs :)

The Operator's Playbook on Running Business Reviews

💡 Step 1: Set up pre-work that people will actually do

Most QBRs fail before they even start because of terrible prep timing.

Luckily for you, I have a whole write-up dedicated to running efficient meetings - go check it out.

People can't really think more than a week ahead. If you send pre-reads too early, fires will come up and everyone will forget. I've never had anyone successfully prepare for something scheduled more than a week out.

Your prep timeline should look like this:

• 4 days before: Send the pre-read packet (everything in one Notion page)

• 2 days before: Final updates and prep

• 1 day before: Everyone reads (no exceptions)

👉 Tip: try not to send weekend homework unless you want people complaining about working instead of being with their kids, or unless your culture is already pretty much a 9-9-6.

What actually goes in your pre-read:

Your pre-read should answer one question: What decisions do we need to make?

Include these four things:

1. KPI dashboard with red/amber/green status vs targets
   

2. Project log with 2-3 bullet point summaries for each initiative
   

3. Resource asks and current blockers
   

4. Proposed priorities for next period

Here’s a template I made specifically for Group Meeting accountability - download it now 👇️ 

💡 Step 2: Structure your meeting for decisions, not status updates

Here's where most people mess up: they turn business reviews into glorified status reports instead of decision-making sessions.

👉 For QBRs, I recommend doing a full-day offsite format with leadership present.

Here’s Donnell’s meeting flow that worked for him as a Chief of Staff:

9:00-9:30 Emotional check-in ("One word: how are you feeling about this quarter?")

9:30-10:15 KPI review (focus on trends and gaps, not just reading numbers)

10:15-12:00 Initiative deep dive (blockers and decisions only)

12:00-1:00 Lunch (team connection time)

1:00-2:30 Priority setting for next period

2:30-3:00 Decision rounds (start/stop/continue/accelerate/delay)

3:00-3:15 Action tracker and check-out

👉 For MBRs, these can be lighter touch and project-dependent. Honestly, I suggest doing reviews that are project-based rather than monthly-based.

Project reviews are either retrospectives if things go mostly right, or postmortems if things go wrong.

But no matter whether you do QBRs or MBRs, here are the rules you MUST follow:

• Pre-read required - everyone reads before the meeting

• Decisions over updates - frame each discussion as "What will we do?"

• Time-boxed agenda - facilitator redirects when needed

• Psychological safety - respectful challenge is encouraged

• Full presence - Slack snoozed, phones silent

💡 Step 3: Read the room and adjust your facilitation style

This is the art part. The structure stays the same, but how you facilitate depends on your team's maturity and current company needs.

Key facilitation moves:

• Start with emotional check-in to get people talking openly

• Model candor first by sharing what could have gone better

• Time-box ruthlessly and use a parking lot for tangents

• End with impact: "What decision today will have the biggest impact?"

Make sure you leave flexibility in your schedule, in case anyone on the team becomes triggered. If someone is in anger or fear, it’s impossible to move forward productively as a team.

💡 Step 4: Focus on outputs and follow-through

Every single QBR/MBR should produce four concrete outputs:

1. Decision log with clear owner and due date

2. Updated priority list (including a "watch list" for emerging stuff)

3. Resource reallocations documented for budget and staffing changes

4. Action tracker with check-ins scheduled 2 weeks before the next review

If you don't leave with clear decisions and next steps, you've failed.

The follow-through system:

Set up your action tracker with check-ins two weeks before the next review. If people aren't executing on what was decided, your next QBR becomes a waste of time.

These meetings are only as good as the follow-through.

Common Failure Modes

Here are the biggest pitfalls I’ve seen companies make.

• The Slide Deck Death March: People reading prepared presentations with zero interaction or discussion

• The Status Report Circle: Going around the room with updates instead of making any actual decisions

• The Perfectionism Trap: Waiting for complete data before deciding anything (spoiler: you'll never have complete data!)

• The Meeting After the Meeting: Real decisions happening in side conversations afterward because the actual meeting was useless

Final Thoughts

Good QBRs and MBRs aren't about having the perfect template or copying what Google does.

They're about creating a rhythm where your leadership team actually makes decisions together instead of just sharing sanitized updates.

The science part - agendas, pre-reads, time boxes - that's table stakes. The art part is reading when your team needs alignment versus when they need to be pushed toward harder conversations.

Start with this structure, adjust the timing to reality (not your aspirational timeline), and focus relentlessly on decisions over updates.

Your team will thank you for it.

Until next time,

And if you’re reading this - you're already ahead.

Because you know where to find the stuff that’s actually good. Like my templates and resources, and this newsletter.

Want more operational content?

Check out Coaching Founder for over a dozen free, downloadable Notion templates to use at your company, and tons of write-ups on how to level up your execs, your teams, and yourself.

About Regina Gerbeaux

Shortly after her role as Chief of Staff, then COO, she opened her own coaching practice, Coaching Founder, and has worked with outrageously talented operators on teams like Delphi AI, dYdX, Astronomer, Fanatics Live, and many more companies backed by funds like Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz.

Her open-sourced write-ups on Operational Excellence and how to run a scaling company can be found here and her templates can be found here.

She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, daughter, and Formosan Mountain Dog, and can be found frequenting 6:00AM Orangetheory classes or hiking trails nearby.