Startup stories are like Netflix dramas. Often oversold, overhyped, and rarely delivering what you expect. The stories we hear most are about billion-dollar unicorns and founders who lived on instant ramen while sleeping under their desks—until their company “changed the world.”

These are the founders/leaders who show up on conference stages, humble-bragging about the grind that got them there. We take notes, ask questions, and clap. We feel inspired [sometimes inadequate] questioning or justifying our own past decisions. We go home and try to shoehorn their advice into our next working day.

Most of us will never build a unicorn—and that’s okay. Your story, the one that matters, probably won’t end in a billion-dollar exit. Instead, maybe it’s about a small team quietly building something meaningful. These are founders/leaders who show up every day to do the boring, gritty work of aligning people around a problem and solving it better than anyone else. They’re real people who know that many minds working together can tackle tougher challenges and move in the right direction.

At the heart of these “boring” stories? Two things:
1. A healthy, flexible strategy.
2. Continuous alignment.

These can make or break your company before you even get a product to market.

In this series, we’ll examine the core elements of a robust foundation: Alignment, Product, Brand, and Market. This isn’t a how-to guide—it’s an opportunity for a mindset shift. Let’s get into it.

Too many founders and leaders think alignment means everyone agrees 100% with some grand vision, like a team holding hands around a whiteboard and nodding in unison. To me, that sounds like cult behaviour.

Alignment is about ensuring everyone understands the problem you’re solving, understands their role, and is determined to cover the function associated with their expertise.
Whether you like it or not, every decision must tie back to a strategy rooted in reality.
As a founder or leader, you must recognise that you have blind spots and that your role is not to shape a product alone and drag everyone into a future only can see.

Want to know why most startups fail?
It’s not because they didn’t hustle hard enough—it’s mostly because they never had a real strategy anchored in the real world.
To clarify: A strategy isn’t a plan. It’s not a to-do list. It’s not a fancy vision statement you slap on your website.
Strategy is about making integrated choices that position your team and product to win.

Let me paint you a picture.
A founder or executive gets excited about a new technology, such as AI. They think, “What if we built an AI tool that does [insert task]?” Their brain goes in overdrive, spotting “problems” everywhere that this shiny AI solution could fix.
Next step? They launch a campaign to convince everyone: investors, colleagues, friends, and, of course, themselves.

They’re so in love with the idea that it quickly morphs into a solution [sometimes even a product] long before they’ve clearly defined/validated a problem. This is how companies end up chasing mirages: solutions that evaporate the closer you get.

Look at Meta’s Metaverse, Apple’s Vision Pro, or the legion of AI “Pins” nobody asked for.
There’s even a public cemetery of Google’s failed ideas, all solutions in search of problems.

Here’s the thing: Those companies are huge. They can survive flops. You can’t.

A great strategy isn’t complicated. It’s about making focused choices that guide your team through the chaos. It’s the difference between saying, “We’re building a productivity tool,” versus, “We’re solving decision fatigue for working parents by helping them prioritise tasks using AI.”

See the difference?
The second is focused. It covers desirability, feasibility, and viability. It’s not a random idea—it’s a strategic choice that aligns your team around a clear goal. Everyone knows the problem you’re solving, why it matters, and how you’ll get there.

A strategy balances three things:
1. Desirability – Are you solving a problem people actually want solved?
2. Feasibility – Can you build it with the resources and talent you have?
3. Viability – Will people pay for it? And if yes, can you defend that revenue?

Think of it like a three-legged stool. If one leg is missing, the whole thing topples.

Without alignment, your team ends up scattered, tugging in different directions. You’ll spend half your time putting out fires instead of making progress. Without strategy, your alignment is aimless.
Everyone’s working hard, but toward what? A guess? A vague idea?

They go hand-in-hand.
• Alignment keeps your team focused on the day-to-day.
• Strategy keeps your startup marching toward long-term success.

Alignment isn’t a one-time task. Neither is strategy. Both are dynamic, ongoing processes. The problem changes. The context shifts. The solution evolves. If you’re not regularly checking in, you’ll wake up one day and realize you’ve been building the wrong thing.

Investing in alignment means more than hosting endless meetings. It means creating space for honest conversations, inviting different perspectives, and challenging assumptions. It means reassessing your choices and adapting when things shift. In one sentence, use the minds and trust the expertise of your colleagues, suppress your ego - as a team, you are smarter.

Thriving organizations aren’t the ones that move fastest; they’re the ones that course-correct quickly and build strategically.

If you take one thing away, let it be this:
Alignment and strategy are your secret weapons.
• Alignment keeps your team focused on the problem.
• Strategy ensures you’re in a position to solve the right problem in the right way.

Together, they protect you from chasing mirages and help you build something real, sustainable, and valuable—something that thrives rather than just survives.

So, what’s next?
Dive into the rest of The Groundwork series to explore the foundations of building a successful startup: Product, Brand, and Market.

Let’s get to work.