Execute with Focus. Go Crazy on Vision

Apr 23

One thing I hear often from founders is this:

“VCs always say focus, focus, focus.”

And honestly, I get why that becomes frustrating. Because sometimes “focus” gets repeated so much that it starts to sound like: stay small, stay narrow, do less, dream less, don’t stretch too far, do’t think global!

But that’s not really what investors mean. At least it’s not what I mean.

To me, focus is mostly about execution.

It’s about where you start.

Which market you enter first.
Which customer segment you serve first.
Which product you build first.
Which wedge you use.
Which battles you choose in this phase of the company.

That kind of focus matters a lot. Startups have limited time, limited energy, limited capital, and usually a very small margin for distraction. So yes, execution needs focus.

But vision?

I actually think vision should be much bigger than execution. Maybe even a little irrational at times.

Because if you’re building a startup, especially a venture-scale startup, the point is not just to solve one small pain point for one small group of customers willing to pay a small amount of money.

That may become a nice product. It may even become a good business. But it may never become a truly large company.

And as a VC, I’m not only buying into what you are executing this quarter. I’m also buying into what this company could become over time.

Focus should be seen in the way you move, and ambition in where you’re trying to go.

Those two things are not contradictory. In fact, the best way is to do both at the same time: execute with extreme clarity, while holding a vision that feels much larger than what is being built today.

Sometimes founders become so disciplined around near-term focus that they accidentally shrink their own company in the process.

They define the problem too tightly.
They define the customer too narrowly.
They price too low.
They think too locally.
They optimize too early for being realistic.

And slowly, without meaning to, they build something that works… but cannot really scale into an outsized business.

I’m not saying every company has to become a giant. And I’m definitely not saying every founder should force a huge story where there isn’t one. But if you are building a venture-backed company, then at some point the vision has to carry enough weight to justify the journey.

Focus should help you sequence the climb. It should not reduce the size of the mountain.

Maybe that’s the part that gets lost in translation.

Focus is for execution.
Vision is for scale.

Execution should be grounded.
Vision should be expansive.

Execution should be disciplined.
Vision should be bold.

Execution should know where to begin.
Vision should not be afraid of where this could ultimately go.

Curious how others think about this.

Have we over-rotated on “focus” to the point that some founders are being unintentionally taught to think too small?