Think Deeply, Strike Fast
A startup is a fragile newborn organization—few people, scarce resources, limited experience. In a brutal competitive landscape, a single lapse can end it right before daybreak. The founder, as the soul of the company, bears heavy responsibility. To handle an ever-changing external environment, founders must stay in fighting mode and be ready for battle at all times. Several habits are essential:
Do extreme strategic thinking. In early-stage companies, time and resources are precious; every futile attempt is a huge waste. Founders often equate “decisiveness” with rushing to conclusions, which leads to strategic mistakes. Misstep after misstep drains limited reserves. Use your brainpower—judgment and imagination—to think strategically at an extreme level. Anchor every decision in the company’s mission and vision; never squander resources or make needless sacrifices.
Repeat your philosophy. Founders may internalize the mission and vision, but cofounders, core teams, and employees do not always grasp their meaning or link daily work to them. Many people simply complete assigned tasks. Only when everyone embraces the mission will energy align. State the mission and vision over and over until the whole company operates in sync. Likewise, communicate any directional shift, organizational adjustment, or new business focus repeatedly until everyone truly understands and executes.
Maintain crisis awareness—watch out for the boiling frog. Some companies grow complacent once they reach a certain scale. But the world is a zero-sum fight for limited resources; competitors stand ready to pounce. Ease up and your product will be surpassed; slack off and your technology will lag; relax and your customers will be poached. Building a company is like rowing upstream: stop rowing and you drift back. Struggle forward or get left behind.
Concentrate firepower on one breach. Early-stage resources are limited, so concentrate on the core business. Do not swing the hammer everywhere. Only after creating stable cash flow and a moat should you patch adjacent weaknesses.
Seize timing and move fast. As soon as a product covers the customer’s essential needs, launch it and validate it through the market, refining it along the way. Even Steve Jobs iterated iPhone after iPhone. Internet companies celebrate speed; Facebook’s mantra was “Move fast, break things.” In China’s fiercely competitive market, startups must win with speed.
Published at: Aug 15, 2019 · Modified at: Dec 4, 2025
