Ecom CFO Notebook - our issues list

Welcome to this issue of Ecom CFO Notebook – a weekly letter for 7–9 figure ecommerce founders and CFOs, sharing my perspective and stories for profitable growth.

Did someone forward this to you? If you like it, you can sign up here.

Sam here.

Sometimes I catch myself barking out 3–4 tasks to the team and wondering why it doesn’t get done.

It’s not because the team is slow or unmotivated.
It’s because they’re overloaded with noise and I haven’t shown them what actually matters.

If you’ve ever thought, “Why aren’t we moving faster?” then this one is for you.

Because it’s probably not a delegation problem.
It’s a prioritization problem.

As the CEO, everything feels urgent. Inventory’s off. Margins are tight. Marketing’s flat. You’re holding a dozen open threads in your head and tossing them to your team as they come up.

But you’re not giving them clarity. You’re spewing tasks.
And then wondering why stuff isn’t getting done right.

That’s where a simple issues list comes in.

Not the one-off Slack messages.
Not the voice memo you forgot to follow up on.

A real system (if a google doc can be a system) where you and your team log, prioritize, and get the dopamine hit of projects well done.

At Ecom CFO, we have one shared Google Doc that we review weekly. It’s not fancy. But it’s gospel.

How I think about our issues list

We’re all paranoid as founders - at least the ones who are still left.

Below is the June 9th entry of my notebook. Physically crossing off stuff in my notebook makes me feel all warm inside.

But some entries are not just “send invoice”. They’re bigger issues / problems holding us back from achieving our goals. They require planning, input from the team, ownership.

Those only get crossed off once I’ve updated our master issues list.

For me, my paranoia/anxiety is lower when I’ve at least documented the issue - to be discussed, prioritized, assigned in our quarterly planning meeting.

Notes about the issues list

In our issues list, we have as few columns as possible.

Also, if I’m updating the list when something comes up during the quarter, I don’t assign owners, priority, or level of effort.

I just document the issue.

Discussion, prioritization, and level of effort is meant for longer conversations in our quarterly planning meetings.

I’m reserving how we do quarterly planning for another newsletter, but something interesting happens during my preparation for quarterly planning.

I notice that many of the issues I / we added are no longer issues. They’ve already been solved by the time we get to quarterly planning or fall in the “low” category of prioritization.

More crossing off. More warm feelings inside.

It’s not glamorous. It’s not some sexy KPI dashboard. But the actual job of being a CEO is to help the team focus on the right problems…not all of them.

And yeah, I’m a finance guy. But if you want better financial outcomes?
This is where they start.

Here is the same issues list we use with clients and start jotting things down.
Take 20 minutes today. Get your mess on paper. Then share it with your team.

Next week, we’re getting back to the numbers.

In the survey last week, the most votes were for benchmarks and data.

Well, lucky you.

Last month, I teamed up with Highbeam to break down the cash metrics most founders overlook, like inventory turns, interest expense, and money sitting in the wrong bank accounts.

I’ll show you exactly where brands are leaking cash (and how to stop it).

Stay tuned.

— Sam

1. Find me on LinkedIn

2. EcomCFO provides CFO and accounting support for 7-9 figure ecommerce brands - book a brainstorming session with me here