Startup advice often repeats the cliché: “Ideas are cheap. Execution is everything.” But what does “execution” actually mean? And what separates good execution from simply staying busy?
What Is Execution?
At a surface level, execution means making progress toward building a successful company. That often starts with a plan:
- Break a big goal into smaller, actionable milestones. (How do you define those milestones)?
- Sequence those milestones thoughtfully. (How do you sequence them correctly)?
- Take consistent action to move forward
But here’s the truth: The initial plan rarely survives. Execution is not just about creating and following a roadmap - it’s actually about de-risking the roadmap.
Execution = De-Risking
Good execution means identifying what could kill your business—and addressing it as early and cheaply as possible.
That involves:
- Surfacing assumptions in your plan
- Prioritizing the ones that matter most (if wrong, they break the model)
- Testing them quickly - with real customers, code, or data
- Adapting your plan as new information emerges
This loop - assume, test, learn, adapt - is the core of execution. It’s how you avoid building the wrong thing, selling it the wrong way, or scaling something that can’t grow.
A Real Example
In my own startup, we’ve validated that:
- People will pay a healthy ARR
- Our close rate is ~80% once we get on a call
But that doesn’t mean we’re “executing well” yet. Why? Because two major risks remain:
- Go-to-Market (GTM) Risk
- Technical/Operational Risk
Our market is trust-based and referral-driven. Our sales-to-impact loop takes months. That lag makes it hard to scale quickly.
The service is still high-touch. Can we deliver value at scale without burning out?
These are existential risks. Until they’re addressed, we can’t confidently grow.
What I’m Doing
For GTM risk: I’m doubling down on outbound. If I can’t land 10 customers by end of June, I’ll consider pivoting.
For technical risk: I’m exploring if we can offer services for free that integrate 80% of the data which takes care of the bulk of manual work.
Conclusion
In short: good execution is existential. It’s about identifying what will kill your business and making sure it won’t… or pivoting.
Everything else is noise.