One Table Beats Ten Charts

A simple framework for turning analysis into action

Hi analysts. Let me walk you through a quick way to make me and your exec team lose their minds.

Show up with a 10-slide deck, 10 different charts, and 10 separate blocks of commentary, when one table and one page would’ve done the job better.

I used to sit in a ton of these meetings. Monthly business reviews. Forecast reviews. Internal syncs.

And I saw this happen all the time.

Each slide would tell a small part of the story: Visits. Then leads. Then trials. Then ARPU. Then churn. Then ARR.

By the end of it, the room had no idea what actually happened.

You’d walk through 10 metrics, one by one, and everyone would leave wondering what the hell we were supposed to take away…

I get it. A 10-slide deck feels like you’ve done more work. It gives you something to talk through. It looks comprehensive.

But more often than not, it’s just noise.

It fills the time, but not with anything useful.

You confuse people instead of clarifying things.

You spark inane debates about sub-metrics instead of focusing on the one or two things that matter.

You end up talking at the business when you should be talking about the business…

Here’s a better way.

Drop the deck. Show me something like this instead:

One table.

Five takeaways.

Everything that matters, all in one place.

Look at what this view makes immediately clear:

1. Traffic is growing steadily. But lead volume is flat—meaning your new traffic isn’t converting.

2. As a result, your visit-to-paid conversion is falling.

3. ARPU is increasing, which is helping soften the blow.

4. Churn is improving.

5. And ARR is still growing strong—over 20% month-over-month.

That’s the story. And now we can actually have a conversation about what to do next.

To be clear: this isn’t about cutting corners.

You still need to do the work.
You still need to understand every part of the funnel.
You still need to be ready to dig in if someone asks a question.

But instead of throwing all that analysis onto 10 different slides, you say:

“I’ve looked at everything. Here’s what matters.”

And that takes real confidence.

It’s scary to walk into a meeting with one slide and an opinion.

Because now there’s no filler. No crutch. You can’t hide behind the deck.

But it’s also the highest-leverage thing you can do.

You’re creating space for discussion.

You’re helping the team focus.

You’re making the business smarter.

And here’s the broader lesson—for analysts, operators, founders, anyone:

Most of the time, there aren’t ten things to fix.

There aren’t ten priorities.

There aren’t ten metrics that deserve equal attention.

There’s one. Maybe two.

And the faster you can surface those and get aligned around them, the better.

So next time you’re putting together a business review or an exec update...

Don’t ask “what else should I include?”

Ask: “Could this all just be one table?”

Because if the answer is yes, that’s probably your best slide.

And everything else is just you talking to fill the time.