The first 100 days are not primarily for shipping. They are for earning the right to be trusted and turning an unclear mandate into a concrete plan. Output produced before the situation is understood usually has to be redone.
Before acting, I want to understand the market position, the go-to-market motion, the ICP, the deal size, the sales cycle and the gap the role is meant to fill. Once inside, I listen to leaders and the people closest to deals and adoption, grounding opinions in real sales-call recordings whenever possible.
Listening then has to become a decision. I turn the evidence into a short list of needs, ask the team to prioritise three, ship a useful first version within about a month and establish a cadence with Product, Sales and Customer Success.
This is a default arc, not a script. The right first move depends on the company’s context. What does not change is the principle: understand before acting, make the mandate concrete and earn trust before spending it.