Made for Founders
Build a Difficult-News Communications Pack
Also useful for: people in Founders
120 min
Advanced
Communication
Communicate Better
Difficult Conversation
Prepare one controlled message system for board members, investors, employees, and customers when company news carries real stakes.
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Use this when
You need to announce layoffs, a missed target, a runway change, a product shutdown, a leadership exit, a security issue, or another consequential company update.
You'll need
- Company context
- Difficult news
- Decision status
- Confirmed facts
- Open questions
- Affected audiences
- Timing constraints
- Disclosure limits
- Desired action
- Communication tone
You'll get
- Every material statement tied to a confirmed fact or marked for verification
- Every affected audience assigned a message, channel, owner, and timing
- One consistent factual spine across all scripts
- Sensitive claims routed to the right specialist review
- Likely questions answered without unsupported promises
- Escalation triggers and response owners documented
By the end of this playbook
You will have:
- Every material statement tied to a confirmed fact or marked for verification
- Every affected audience assigned a message, channel, owner, and timing
- One consistent factual spine across all scripts
- Sensitive claims routed to the right specialist review
- Likely questions answered without unsupported promises
- Escalation triggers and response owners documented
Sample
This is sample data, not your prompt. Pro unlocks this higher-stakes Playbook. On Free Playbooks you can still copy the assembled prompt into any AI.
Sample input
Company context: We run a 70-person B2B software company with slowing growth and 11 months of runway. Difficult news: We are reducing the team by 12 roles and ending an analytics add-on. Decision status: Final and approved. Confirmed facts: Board approval is complete. Notifications begin October 2. Core service remains supported. Open questions: Final migration dates and severance language. Audiences: Board, investors, employees, affected customers, and other customers. Timing: Board chair first, affected employees next, company meeting after that, then customer outreach. Disclosure limits: Personnel details are confidential. Legal must approve severance and cash statements. Desired action: Align managers, retain key customers, and prevent conflicting explanations. Tone: Direct and accountable.
Sample assembled prompt
Release recommendation: Release after named fixes. Required fixes: 1. REVIEW: Legal approval for severance language. 2. VERIFY: Final migration date for... 3. REVIEW: Finance approval for the... Core narrative: Growth has slowed, and... The board approved a reduction of... This narrows the operating plan and... It also creates serious consequences for... Release order: 1. Board chair briefing 2. Affected employee meetings 3. Company-wide announcement and manager briefing 4. High-impact customer calls 5. Investor update 6. Broader customer email Next update: October...