The one-sentence so what, from a number
Four moves from a number to a so what: read it, compare it, say what it means, say what to do. With a worked example from quick commerce (grocery delivery in minutes) in India.
Key takeaways
- A number on its own is not a so what. The so what says what the number means for the goal and what to do about it.
- The So what drill gives you a small set of numbers from a real industry.
- The strong version compares the rise with what each order earns. It says what that means, and it names the action.
Key idea
A number on its own is not a so what. The so what says what the number means for the goal and what to do about it. It does this in one sentence.
Four moves from a number to a so what
- 1Read the number and its unit. INR 54 a delivery is not the same as INR 54 a day.
- 2Compare it with something: last year, the plan, a target, a competitor, or what it costs to fix. A number only means something next to another number.
- 3Say what it means for the goal: "so each order now earns 15 percent less."
- 4Say what to do: "so we should raise the delivery fee by INR 9 before the rise starts."
| Line | Today | After the rise |
|---|---|---|
| What the company keeps from the order | 141 | 141 |
| Rider to deliver the order | 45 | 54 |
| Packaging | 7 | 7 |
| Payment fees | 9 | 9 |
| Discounts and coupons | 20 | 20 |
| Contribution per order | 60 | 51 |
Illustrative figures from the e-commerce and quick commerce industry brief; the rider pay rise is invented for this example.
Worked case
Rider pay rises: the so what in one sentence
The prompt
Rider pay at an Indian quick commerce company rises from INR 45 to INR 54 an order. Using the table, write the so what in one sentence.
The structure
- From the number to the action
- The number: the rise per order
- The comparison: against today's contribution per order
- The meaning: how much less each order earns
- The action: what wins it back
Working it through
1. The rise
New rider pay minus old rider pay.
Rise per order (INR):54 - 45 = 92. New contribution
Contribution is what each order earns after its own costs. Every extra rupee of cost comes straight off it.
Contribution after the rise (INR):60 - 9 = 513. The meaning
The rise as a share of today's contribution.
Fall in contribution (percent):9 ÷ 60 × 100 = 154. The other way to win it back
If the fee does not change, how many more orders keep total contribution the same? Divide today's contribution by the new one, then subtract one.
More orders needed (percent):(60 ÷ 51 - 1) × 100 = 17.65
The recommendation
Contribution falls 15 percent, from INR 60 to INR 51 an order. So raise the delivery fee by INR 9 before the rider pay rise starts. Without it, the company would need about 18 percent more orders just to earn the same. The risk is that a higher fee loses customers, so test it in one city first.
A strong candidate
"Contribution falls 15 percent, from INR 60 to INR 51 an order, so raise the delivery fee by INR 9." Meaning, number and action in one sentence.
A weak candidate
"Rider pay goes up from INR 45 to INR 54." True, but it only repeats the table. The reader still has to work out what it means.
Three ways to report the same number.
Data, not a so what
"Rider cost rises 20 percent." (It restates the table. The reader still has to work out what it means.)
A so what
"Contribution falls 15 percent, from INR 60 to INR 51 an order, so raise the delivery fee by INR 9 before the rise starts."
Why the stronger answer wins: The strong version compares the rise with what each order earns. It says what that means, and it names the action. Twenty percent of one cost line sounds alarming. Fifteen percent of contribution is what decides.
Five checks for any so what
- Answer first: the first sentence says what it means or what to do. There is no warm-up such as "Looking at the data".
- A number from the facts, or one you worked out from them.
- The action or decision, with a concrete verb: raise, cut, approve, do not launch. "Consider" is not a decision.
- Short: one or two sentences, 40 words or fewer.
- No weak, unsure words: maybe, I think, it seems. If something is uncertain, say what would change your answer.
The So what drill gives you a small set of numbers from a real industry. You write the so what. The drill checks your answer against these five points and shows a model answer.
Open the So what drillA software company in Germany pays its cloud provider EUR 2,400 a year for each customer. The provider raises the price by EUR 600. Each customer brings EUR 9,840 of contribution a year today. By what percent does contribution per customer fall? Round to one decimal.
Which is a so what rather than a fact?
Sources for this lesson (1)
- Recognized public explanations of case-interview concepts and terms
My notes on this lesson
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Keep going: lesson 3 of 9
It builds on what you just read, in Saying so what: synthesis and communication at work.
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