I've worked with startups that had nothing and global companies with billions. The surprising truth: the problem is always the same.
The universal problem
"We don't know what we own."
The startup founder can't articulate why their product matters beyond features. The Fortune 500 CMO can't explain what makes their brand different from the next three competitors.
Same problem. Same silence when I ask the question.
What changes with scale
- Startups move faster but have fewer resources to test hypotheses
- Big companies have data but can't act on it. Too many stakeholders, too much consensus
- Startups risk being too different (nobody understands them)
- Big companies risk being too same (everyone understands them but nobody cares)
What doesn't change
The work. Find the micro-monopoly. Compress it to four words. Align everything downstream.
Size changes the politics. It doesn't change the strategy.
A whiteboard works the same way whether there are 5 people in the room or 500.