A practice for finance and analytics professionals climbing the next rung. Membership, programs, courses, and a weekly newsletter from Matt Brattin, former CFO and author of The Art of Analytics.

The Next 90

There's always a next 90.

A hands-on program that gives ambitious finance and analytics professionals the structure to run their next 90 days with purpose.

Application-based. Cohort-paced. Three times a year. Two tracks: Individual Contributor and People Manager.

Q3 2026 cohort opens for applications in late June.

You know what good looks like. You are too deep in the grind to get there.

Every quarter you tell yourself next quarter will be different. It isn't.

Your work takes too long. You spend half your time on manual execution that should not require a human. The strategic work, the work that actually moves your career, gets squeezed.

You have a high pain tolerance for dysfunction. You have gone nose-blind to how bad it has gotten.

The problem isn't your effort. It's your system.

How the program runs

Twelve weeks total. Eight weeks of structured content followed by four weeks of self-direction with continued check-ins. The program does not graduate you out of the trap. It trains the wiring that keeps generating the trap, so you can run your next 90 days. And the one after that, and the one after that.

You start with the hardest question first: if you had to train your replacement in two weeks, what would you tell them? That answer becomes your roadmap. From there you reset your operating identity, map your influence, ask the absurd question, and build a real piece of work in the second phase. You leave with a working system and a way of running the next quarter you can carry forward.

Phase 1: The Reckoning

Weeks 0-4

  • Setup. Establish where you actually start. No wishful thinking. The honest baseline you build everything else on.
  • Reckoning. The backfill question. If you had to train your replacement in two weeks, what would you tell them? That answer is your roadmap.
  • Reset. Operating identity. The architect, not the responder. You're training the new you.
  • SWOT of Influence. Map who controls the levers that matter. Who approves. Who blocks. Who is already an ally.
  • Absurd Question. The question you've been too busy to ask. Why does this take what it takes? What if it didn't have to?

Phase 2: The Deployment

Weeks 5-8

  • Build the first thing. A working prototype beats a 47-slide deck about innovation. Pick one process, one win, build the replacement.
  • Strategic Voice. Translate the math into the language that gets budget approved and the room paying attention.
  • Building for Permanence. If it dies when you leave the room, you were the system. Make the work survive without you standing over it.
  • Own It Publicly. Run the new system in the real world. Prove it works. Build the case for the next domino.

Phase 3: Run It

Weeks 9-12

  • Self-direction with check-ins. No new content. Every-other-week group check-ins. You transition from learning to doing. The trained habit is what the program is for.

Two tracks

Application sorts you into the track that fits your stage. Cross-pollination across tracks is a feature. Live sessions stay open across both.

Individual Contributor

Senior analysts and people not managing other people.

Building visibility, navigating the analyst-to-manager transition, owning the architect posture inside an IC seat.

People Manager

Anyone managing people, including managers of managers and directors.

Managing up and across, organizational politics, scaling yourself, building systems that survive your absence.

Pricing and cohort schedule

Standalone
$1,500

One-time price for non-members.

Active Climb members
$1,000

$500 off when you are an active member of The Climb.

Three cohorts per year. Q1, Q2, Q3.

Five to twenty-five participants per cohort.

Application-based. Approves for fit and signals commitment. Q3 2026 cohort opens in late June.

Who it's for

The full ICP. Senior analysts, FP&A planners, controllers, accounting professionals, data analysts, managers, and directors. Anyone with high potential who has gotten themselves in over their head because of that potential and wants out.

The qualification is not seniority. The qualification is being someone who is really good, who is buried because of it, and who is ready to do the work.

Get on the cohort list

The Q3 2026 cohort opens for applications in late June. Leave your details and I will follow up the moment the application window opens.