SaaS teams are drowning in meetings. Recurring syncs. Cross functional check-ins. Campaign reviews. All with too many people, too few decisions, and not enough prep.
People leave with zero clarity. No decisions. No follow ups. Just five half done conversations and an hour they won’t get back.
And still wondering what the point was?
But it doesn’t have to be like this.
I agree with Elon Musk on this: if a meeting isn’t adding value, leave. Most meetings should’ve been an email. Some shouldn’t happen at all.
So here’s a smarter way to approach them. Especially when the team is small, the budget is tight, and every minute counts.
Set the agenda before the calls
If everyone agrees to a simple agenda before the call, you’ll get better prep and fewer side quests.
I do this for almost every call.
Often, I’ll create a quick one pager and send it ahead. Tells them what we’re covering. Tells them what not to worry about.
Then I say: “Don’t worry about taking notes, just listen. You already got the recap.” Works great if you need attention.
Kill the recurring meetings you don’t miss
If a weekly call skipped one week and nobody noticed, you just found a useless meeting. Replace it with a metrics email. Put a deadline and a clear “ask” inside it. That alone will save you five hours a month.
Never meet just to “sync”
Cross functional syncs are where alignment goes to die. Instead, meet to make a decision. If you’re not picking, unblocking or committing, cancel it.
Don’t invite more than three people unless it’s a decision sprint
The fourth person rarely speaks. And if the third one’s quiet, even worse. Large meetings make people polite, not productive. If you need input from five people, get it asynchronously and meet only for the part where you decide.
Start with this question in 1:1s
How much time do you want to spend on each topic today?
This comes straight from my therapist. Sounds casual, but it does four things:
- Gives them control
- Surfaces what matters most
- Keeps the clock honest
- Builds mutual trust
No more hour long monologues. No more tab surfing while someone reads bullet points.
Meetings can help but only if they’re designed to. Otherwise, they’re the single fastest way to slow down your company.
And in SaaS, slow is lethal.
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