Intensity beats strategy

At startups, turning up the intensity will far outweigh a shift in strategy almost every time. Here's why ...

I recently read a great post by Romeen Sheth about driving intensity at startups where he argues that most of the time, if you turn up the intensity, it will far outweigh a shift in strategy.

This is very much in line with my post about execution trumping strategy where I argue:

In the murky waters of (pre-) seed startup building, things hardly ever move as fast as you’d like. Which can be extremely frustrating.

With it, who isn’t inclined to start thinking about “the next big idea” or to “change the strategy”? A big narrative that explains where you are, why you’re struggling, and what you need to do differently could fix it all, right?

Because the light at the end of the tunnel won’t come from looking inward and challenging ones execution. That likely won’t move the needle too much - it’s the 80 / 20 rule after all …

I actually beg to differ - great, consistent execution compounds and CAN lead to 10x+ improvements!

The image below is meant to make a case for consistency vs intensity. One can make the same argument for focusing on small execution related improvements vs changing your course and sprinting in a new direction every time things aren’t moving as fast as you had hoped.

That said, here’s Romeen’s post - can highly recommend giving it a read.