Why Your Team’s Building the Wrong Thing

I often see mission statements get twisted in all kinds of directions.

You kick things off saying “we’re building a cool tool for small business analytics,” but by the time it hits the product team, they’re designing a blockchain widget for corporates.

If the team is hustling, but somehow building the wrong thing, the problem’s probably in the communication.

When your company is gaining momentum, misalignment is a growth killer.

Every mix-up means a delayed launch, a feature that flops, or a demo that leaves potential customers scratching their heads.

Here’s how to fix that to make sure everyone’s working towards the same picture.

The Puzzle Piece Game

Think of your company like one of those puzzles you pieced together as a kid.

Your role as a founder or leadership team is to hand your devs, marketers, ops, etc., a clear vision and give each group their puzzle pieces to fit in. Maybe engineering’s got the corner pieces, marketing’s working the edges, and you’re out there pitching the center to angels.

The more gaps in your puzzle’s picture, the more chances for confusion.

Ambiguity kills execution. Your job is to make the image so clear that every hire, from intern to lead dev, knows exactly what they’re building.

Three Ways to Keep Your Puzzle Together

Great communication isn’t about more meetings or longer Slack messages. It’s about clarity, alignment, and making sure your vision doesn’t get lost. Here’s how to get it right:

1. Start with Context, Not Orders
   Founders often jump straight to the what. You’ve been obsessing over this startup for months, every user test, every pivot, every VC rejection. But your new engineer? They’re clueless. Don’t just say “add this button.” Explain why. “This button drives signups because our funnel shows a 30% drop at onboarding.” Context connects their work to the big picture. If you skip it, they’ll build a treehouse when you wanted a castle.
   

2. Cut Through the Noise
   In a small team, every notification feels critical. Without a clear signal, your team’s lost in a sea of updates. Set up one source of truth, a weekly founder’s note, a “#focus” channel, or a tight standup with an agenda. Make it painfully clear where the priorities live. If everything seems urgent, nothing is.
   

3. Repeat the Important Stuff
   You shared your north star that one time at that one standup. Awesome. Nobody retained it. Great founders don’t shy away from saying it again. Hammer the key points, your core KPI, your next milestone, in emails, chats, pitch decks. Say it a dozen times, every way you can. Repetition isn’t nagging, it’s how you make the vision stick.

Step Back and Check Your Work

If your team’s shipping weird features or your sprints are a circus, don’t blame them first. Look at your own game. Did you hand them a clear image? Did you give them enough pieces to see the puzzle? Or did you toss a pile of fragments and expect magic?

Paul Graham said startups don’t get killed, they kill themselves. Miscommunication is one of those self-inflicted stabs. You’re not building a tool, you’re building a shared understanding of what that tool is. Make it easy for your team to snap their pieces into place, and you’ll spend less time unpicking messes and more time scaling.

This week, ask yourself:

• Am I giving enough context, or assuming everyone’s got my brain?

• Does my team know what’s critical, or are they winging it?

• Am I repeating the big stuff, or banking on one speech to do it?

Nail this, and your company will go from a pile of pieces to a vision coming together.

Interesting finds

• The tool Sam Altman uses to help him think clearly…spoiler alert, it’s not ChatGPT (Video)

• The psychology of evil - fascinating perspective on the grooming and mindset certain people embodied to achieve positions of power (Video)

• There is no reason to be a people pleaser. People are never pleased (Tweet)

Keep building, keep going 🚀

Startups, corporates, it doesn’t matter. I've seen great ideas crash from not thinking a few moves ahead. That’s why I built the Straightforward Strategy Blueprint, a FREE template so your idea doesn’t become another could-have-been. Get it here.