3 ways excellent founders strategize

Here are the simplest things startup founders succeed with: 

1. “tight on what, loose on how” — at bare minimum, by the end of the first quarter (or the first year or 3 years), we must have accomplished X, Y, Z. We’ll experiment with a variety of ways to achieve X, Y, Z. 

2. illusion of tightness (in the “loose on ‘how’”): Experiments with the “how” are run quickly and systematically with a great deal of rigor. See: OODA loops.

3. Assess the “how”: Evaluate the impact of your efforts ruthlessly, then make changes decisively, even if you might like having more data, more consultants, more certainty. Try, measure, change - fast.

-Ben