Larry Chiang starts every deal at the end, with the signature on the page, and works backward from there. Most people walk into a room hoping something good happens, he prepares for the exact outcome he already wrote down. PQRST is the checklist that makes backward planning real: preview the material, question what’s unclear, read it closely, summarize it in your own words, then test yourself before you’re in the room.
If you can’t summarize the deal in two sentences before you arrive, you’re not ready to ask for it. Larry says he flags his fuzzy points on purpose, so the gaps get closed in conversation instead of after the meeting is over. Working backward also means picking the room on purpose, not wandering into whatever event is on the calendar that week.
That’s the External API instinct: plug into a gathering, a company, or a relationship that already has the room built, instead of trying to build your own audience from zero. Once the target deal is clear, every conversation before it becomes prep, not small talk.
The pen-drop close only works if you already know what you’re asking someone to initial. Larry’s line is that he sells the outcome first and figures out delivery after, which only works if the outcome was defined before the meeting started.
Backward planning turns a vague goal like networking more into a specific ask you can rehearse. Write the deal you want on paper first, then build the week that gets you into the room where someone can say yes to it.
Details: Watch Larry on backward planning
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