🚀 Budgeting for Humans (Not Just CFOs) – Chapter 1: Why are we doing this? The Mindset
It’s budget season again. Business plans, forecasts… and spreadsheets falling like autumn leaves 🍂. Timely, isn’t it? 😉
For many founders and executives, this time of year feels like a chore. Something that has to get done before the calendar resets. A ritual that takes weeks of effort, fills up endless tabs in spreadsheets, and often ends up in a drawer (or folder) until the next board meeting.
I know this feeling all too well.
What is your choice?
My first budget lesson
When I joined my first startup and faced my very first budget exercise, I did what no finance leader will openly admit to (but most of us have done): I spent three months chasing numbers from different department heads, trying to stitch together a budget.
I asked a few clarifying questions here and there, but mostly I was just filling boxes in a spreadsheet. After all, I’d reviewed hundreds of budgets during my 11 years at PwC — but reviewing is not the same as building.
We finally scheduled an offsite with the full leadership team to review and present the budget. Five minutes before we walked into the room, the sales leader stopped me in the corridor and said casually:
“By the way, Xavi — we need to cut next year’s revenue projection by 50%.”
I froze. Three months of work instantly in the trash. My first reaction was panic. But once I calmed down, I realized something important: the problem wasn’t the math. The problem was how I had approached the process.
That moment became a turning point. I understood that a business plan isn’t just about collecting figures — it’s about leadership, alignment, and clarity.
It was my first real lesson in budgeting. And it’s one of the reasons I’m writing this series today.
Why talk about budgeting at Leaderness?
Because budgets aren’t just about numbers. They are, in many ways, one of the purest leadership exercises you’ll face as a team.
Think about it: when you sit down to prepare a budget, you’re not just filling cells in a spreadsheet. You’re stress-testing your leadership team.
Do we really understand our strategy?
Are our goals clear enough that everyone can see how their work fits in?
Is there true alignment between the Board, the executive team, and the rest of the company?
A budget forces these questions into the open. Done well, it creates alignment. Done poorly, it reveals cracks.
And this test is very revealing. It quickly shows whether you have a true Leadership Team focused on the success of the company as a whole — or just a Team of Leaders, each one lobbying for their own function, fighting for more headcount or budget without regard for the bigger picture.
That distinction matters.
And beyond that, a budget shouldn’t stand alone. It should be part of a broader business plan. The budget is just one outcome, but not the only one. A proper business plan should also show:
How the company’s key KPIs will evolve
How the plan will increase the company’s value in the market
How GTM initiatives, product roadmaps, hiring & retention, and operational traction plans connect to the strategy — and ultimately, to the financials
In theory, all of these pieces should come together neatly. In practice, in my experience… you’re lucky if you get some of them, let alone all at once. But this is the real demonstration that the full Leadership Team has clarity on the strategy and tactics. Remember: the evil is in the details, always.
The mindset shift: burden or tool?
Budgeting has a bad reputation because too often it’s treated as an obligation: a document you prepare for investors, a once-a-year annoyance. In that case, yes — it’s a burden.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
A well-prepared budget becomes a powerful tool. It sharpens your understanding of the business, cutting through noise and showing where growth really comes from. It provides focus by forcing choices: what to invest in, what to delay, what to stop. And it boosts execution because the team knows not just what they’re aiming for, but why those targets matter.
The difference between burden and tool is not the spreadsheet. It’s the approach, the mindset, and the process.
What’s next?
This article is the first chapter in a weekly series: Budgeting for Humans (Not Just CFOs).
In the coming weeks, I’ll cover the full journey of building a budget and business plan for 2026 — from aligning with your Board, to stress-testing assumptions, to execution.
Here’s what’s coming up:
2️⃣ Board & Strategy Alignment
3️⃣ Top-Down Exercise
4️⃣ Revenue Analysis
5️⃣ GTM & Product
6️⃣ Back Office (Finance, HR, Support & Ops)
7️⃣ Bottom-Up Planning
8️⃣ Sensitivity Analysis
9️⃣ Objectives & Collateral
🔟 Execution
My goal is simple: to make budgeting accessible, useful, and yes, even a little bit fun — not just for CFOs, but for any leader trying to grow their company.
Closing thought
A budget shouldn’t just be numbers on a spreadsheet. It should be a mirror of your strategy, a stress test of your leadership, and a booster of execution.
💬 I’d love to hear your experience: in past years, has your budgeting process felt like a useful tool or more like a painful ritual? And if you could improve one part of it, which would it be?
👉 If you’re in a rush and need urgent help building or fixing your budget right now, feel free to reach out directly: xavi@leaderness.net