Articles by Packy McCormick
In Defense of Strategy: Execution isn't enoughStrategy is important for startups, especially early on when they have limited resources and time before competition arises. Good strategy involves properly diagnosing the situation, setting a guiding policy to overcome obstacles, and taking coherent actions that build on each other. Most "bad strategy" involves mistaking goals for strategy, ignoring competition, and failing to address the main challenge. Startups should aim to develop moats like scale economies, switching costs, or network effects before their uncertainty window closes. Packy's own experience at Breather shows how a good strategy involving both monthly and hourly bookings helped improve margins and counter competitors, though the startup ultimately failed due to other factors.