Say the Most Important Thing First

You’re reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

How to Improve Your Daily Communication

Let’s talk about the most common form of writing in your work today: email.

It’s easy to take emails for granted. They’re so routine that we don’t even think about them as writing. They’re just busywork—something we do. But because emails are so ubiquitous, small improvements in the way we write them can make a massive difference over time.

Think about these three email subject lines. What do they have in common?

Subject: Updated health insurance policy

Subject: All-hands meeting this afternoon—urgent

Subject: We’re being acquired

Not much, right? Number one is pretty mundane, number two seems to imply an existential crisis, and the last one is exhilarating or terrifying, depending on your equity package.

But the fundamental purpose of each email is the same: to inform the reader of something important.

The vast majority of our writing as founders is basic communication. The sharing of information. It’s always been this way, dating all the way back to the invention of writing as a record-keeping system. But today, sharing information is almost too easy, and this has made our writing sloppy. Emails are often disorganized and full of unnecessary details, and they fail to answer our reader’s most pressing question: “What does this information mean for me?”

The internet has given us infinite space to write, but now we’re constrained by an even more limited resource: our reader’s attention span.

When writing to inform, being organized is critical. You need to lead with the most important information and leave zero ambiguity about what it means. Cut any extraneous information or save it until the end. This is not the time to lead with an “interesting” backstory or wax poetically about your company’s mission.

Never forget the cardinal rule when writing to inform: get to the point.

Here’s a real example of an internal email that plagues thousands of businesses around the world (names have been changed to protect the guilty):

Subject: Product meeting

Hi all,

Been a wild day. Andrew from XYZ Ventures just put a meeting on my calendar for this afternoon. I’ll need the pitch deck updated by 2 so I have time to review and rehearse a bit. Obviously the product meeting is a blocker now. Let me know what you’d like to do.

-B

—

Boss McFounder

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Imagine you’re the Head of Product for this company. Do you know what to make of this email? What does Boss McFounder want you to do, exactly? Should you change the meeting time or have it without him? And why is he telling you about the pitch deck? You’re not responsible for that.

It’s obvious this founder did not consider the purpose of his email. Instead of organizing his thoughts, he wrote it as a pure stream-of-consciousness, leaving everyone confused and unsure what to do next.

How would you fix this message?

The Inverted Business Pyramid

We can learn a lot about informational writing from our friends in the news media. Their job is to share information (ideally) without judgment or bias.

To do this, they use a time-tested writing framework called the inverted pyramid.

Inverted Pyramid (Journalism)

The inverted pyramid prioritizes the most important information at the top, followed by key details, and ends with background information. Journalists adopted this framework for two reasons. First, it respected the reader’s time by sharing the most newsworthy information up front. Second, in the age of physical newspapers, it ensured no critical details were lopped off the end to make room on the page.

Founders have their own inverted pyramid when writing to inform:

The Inverted Business Pyramid:

1. Purpose (i.e., most important thing)

2. Key details

3. What does this mean for the reader?

4. Background info (if needed)

5. Next steps

The Inverted Business Pyramid

Let’s rewrite Boss’s email using the inverted business pyramid:

Subject: Rescheduling product meeting

Hi all,

I’ll need to reschedule our product meeting. I just had an investor call pop up on my calendar. Does 4 pm work for everyone instead? If so, please send over an updated calendar invite. Thank you.

-B

__

Boss McFounder

“Clarity is kind” —Dr. Brené Brown

Here’s the breakdown:

• Purpose: Rescheduling the product meeting.

• Key details: An investor call has interrupted the original plans.

• What it means for the reader: They’ll have to adjust their schedule for the 4pm meeting or suggest a different time.

• Background info: None. The Head of Product is likely aware that the company is trying to raise money. This call is important.

• Next steps: Send a new invite to Boss.

Boss McFounder leaves no ambiguity in his new message. It has a clear purpose, clear consequences for those involved, and clear next steps. This is the type of email that can save your business hundreds of hours over the years.

Here’s another example of the inverted business pyramid in action, this time in a longer piece of writing: Jeff Bezos’s announcement that he was stepping down as CEO of Amazon.

(I’ll just share the relevant sections here, but I highly recommend you read the entire letter):

Purpose (First sentence):

Fellow Amazonians:

I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO.

Key details (second sentence):

In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.

What this means for the reader (third sentence):

Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.

[In other words, you have nothing to worry about.]

The body of Bezos’s letter is a reflection on his time as the CEO of Amazon. It’s a great story, but not mission-critical for the reader.

Next steps (final paragraph):

Keep inventing, and don’t despair when at first the idea looks crazy. Remember to wander. Let curiosity be your compass. It remains Day 1.

The formatting of Bezos’s letter was not an accident. Jamie Russo, author of The Underdog Paradox and a former Senior Program Manager at Amazon Advertising, shared with me a core writing principle he learned from his time at the company:

BLUF, or Bottom Line Up-Front.

BLUF originated in the US military to simplify communications. Now it’s used to guide every piece of writing within Amazon. “The idea is to put the most important details first. People are busy,” said Russo. “BLUF saves everyone time and makes the point clear.”

Bezos’s letter is a masterclass in the BLUF principle. Notice how he hits the purpose, key details, and what they mean for the reader in the first three sentences. He wastes no time getting to the point.

When writing to inform, act like your space is limited—because it is. Not by the dimensions of your piece of paper, but the attention span of your reader. Follow the inverted business pyramid to get to the point fast.

But not all of your writing is simply designed to share information. As a founder, your most important job is to sell.

That’s next.

Free Tool #1 BONUS: Inverted Business Pyramid Template

Purpose-driven writing will improve your daily communication immediately. Go to www.greatfounderswrite.com/bonus, enter your email, then click on “Inverted Business Pyramid” to get the free template. Use this tool anytime you need to share important information with your team or customers.