Value of vision is enormous

To simplify things, there's two parts to making a business -- or more accurately two sides to the same "business" coin. One part is vision and the other part is execution.  You need both. At times in my career, I've been struck by the value and beauty of one side over the other.  Today, I'm marveling at the value of vision. The value of knowing where you want to take a company is critical.  It's particularly critical in early stage companies where one misstep can kill a company.  At each of the Founder's co-op companies, we're going through a process of reviewing our 2009 operating plans and adjusting when necessary.  Figuring out what direction to go -- how to grow -- is not easy. In the land of limitless possibilities (theoretically speaking) and very limited cash -- choosing a good direction is not easy and choosing a great direction is really hard.  Ultimately, the CEO needs to take all the inputs of the market into their brain and spit out a direction gut choice -- and then go execute on it.  One note I might add to this is that the amount of cash actually makes the need for vision greater. The fact that each of our companies is cash constrained limits the degrees of freedom and has the company focus on what can increase short term cash flow while advancing the business.