If I am honest with myself, it's about 40% copium and 60% experience with the directors in question.
There's 2 "cool" directors who were tech people but are also influential in that peer group. You can't trust them to represent you fairly, but you can trust that they'll listen to your argument.
The 40% copium stems from knowing that some of the "only features have business value" group are stubborn and think everyone should just work more.
sympathetic-lol at the desperate copium.