We live in a time when doing something has become easy and fast.
Software that took a year to build 15 years ago can be built in a week today, thanks to AI. So the execution risk for startups has decreased.
What risk remains? Market risk. Determining what people want and transforming that into a product is still the more complex challenge.
This aligns with a common idea among creatives and thinkers: you must spend sufficient time contemplating what you work on instead of just working on it.
To many, dedicating time to think about what to work on feels like wasted time. After all, an hour spent thinking could have yielded a new customer, feature, or iteration. But this is a fallacy. It matters far more to think about what to work on than to actually work on it. Sure, the time to just go out there and execute will come. But it starts with thinking deeply and clearly about what to work on in the first place.
This is not only true when thinking about new startup ideas but also for existing ones as you allocate resources to improve your product.
When considering what to work on, there is a fine line. You don't want to make the mistake of thinking you're smarter than the market, your customers, or the world. It's not about contemplating your grand vision and becoming overly theoretical. Rather, it's about finding truth by talking to customers and closely observing how they use your product. With this ground truth, you are then in a position to effectively decide what to work on.
Regardless of the context, it's important to allocate time to think about what you should work on. If you walk faster without a map than someone who walks slower with a map, the one who walks slower is likely to reach the destination before you.