Even if your mission statement is close to your heart and crafted like a fine haiku, it can still fail to be strategically useful, or worse hold you back.

Keeping your eyes fixed on the horizon while your ship is running into rocks and being attacked by sea monsters and pirates may sound heroic, but usually it’s just plane insane.

Like a good axe, a company may have just a few standout capabilities that help it win consistently at its purpose.

I thought we were not talking enough about things like establishing sustainable moats, building the balance sheet, and service proficiency beyond pure SaaS.  These things give your company better options and levers to pull in good times and bad

I like to think of the things you build a company with (the foundational blocks) as the First-Class Objects of your business. The main investments viewed through the most pragmatic lens possible. Without these, your business is not durable and your successes along the way likely prove to be short lived.

The important part of building is the outcome. The outcome of building activity is your position in the market. This is the position that you earn relative to others and the amount of leverage you then get then to apply to defend and grow your position.