Why simple plans win every time.

"Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." - Steve Jobs

As a founder, I’ve experienced the highs of rapid startup growth and the lows of stagnation. Navigating these phases has taught me countless lessons, but one stands out above all:

Simple plans win every time.

Simple plans are straightforward. They cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters. They don’t require hours of meetings to decipher or layers of complexity to execute. They make sense to everyone and allow the team to “just go”.

Simple plans don’t need extensive data analysis to validate their input. They don’t require complex dashboards or convoluted KPIs. Keep metrics simple to provide a no-nonsense view of your business health. And hey - don’t forget the power of instinct, which is often your most powerful indicator.

Simple plans are based on what your top customers are telling you, loud and clear. When your top customers are vocal about what they want, listen. If their feedback resonates with your vision, that’s your green light. Don’t waste your time trying to figure out why your customers are wrong. Trust the process, act quickly, and refine as you go. You won’t always get it right, and that is okay. Making mistakes is better than inaction. Making mistakes is how we learn. Mistakes are progress.

Simple plans require work and ambition because let’s be real – simple is far harder than complex. It is human nature to make things more complex than they need to be, so you need to constantly ask questions like, “What’s the simplest path to achieve our goal?” and “What would this look like if it were easy?”.

Simple plans provide clarity, speed, and effectiveness. They allow you to move quickly and decisively. They don’t get bogged down in trying to validate every hypothesis to the nth degree. Instead, they allow you to increase your speed of execution, which is your biggest advantage.

So yeh. Simple plans are always better than complex plans.

Quiet the noise.

Focus on the essentials.

Keep it simple.

And get to work.