The importance of speed in decision-making
Why you should do everything you can to move faster.
Speed is often an overlooked competitive advantage. It’s not complicated—if you're able to make two or three moves while your competitors only make one, you're positioning yourself for success.
In my work, there are a few things that tend to stand out, but if you asked people I've worked with, they'd probably mention my bend toward action.
It's a key part of how I lead and make decisions. I believe in moving things forward and not letting opportunities sit idle.
Today I want to share a bit more about that mindset, how it helps create momentum, and how to foster it in your organization.
You need a strong vision first
Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, recently shared reflections on his journey from $0 to $25 billion. His insights are well worth reading, as they contain a ton of valuable takeaways.
One point he emphasizes is the importance of balancing vision with practicality:
"You need to paint a compelling vision of a terrific future for your company while at the same time dealing head-on with the real problems you face today."
This advice is valuable because it’s not about forcing the world to align with your thinking or adopting an "everything is possible" mindset. Instead, it’s about driving toward a clear future while taking practical steps to get there.
Without a strong vision of what’s possible or what you're aiming for, you risk spinning your wheels without making real progress.
Understand potential impact and risks
As a rule, make decisions swiftly unless they carry long-term, significant consequences—most choices can be changed later. If a decision isn’t perfect, you can always tweak it down the line. Collect data, refine, and keep improving.
A clear example is a pricing update we made at SimpleTexting. Instead of months of deliberation, we made the decision in one meeting to adjust pricing for new customers and phase it for existing ones.
This quick action allowed us to respond to market pressures, increase margins, and reinvest in growth, all while minimizing customer impact through a measured rollout.
Speed compounds over time. Small, incremental optimizations build on each other, creating cumulative progress.
Determine the information you actually need
One key aspect is recognizing how much information is actually necessary to make a decision. It's easy to get stuck in the pursuit of more data, but often, you already have enough to move forward.
Waiting for perfect information can paralyze progress, so it's important to determine when you have sufficient insights to act. The goal is to make well-informed decisions quickly, not perfect ones.
This approach was key in improving onboarding in another role. Instead of a six-month overhaul with lots of data gathered up front, we launched 10 quick experiments in a week.
By gathering data and iterating weekly, we avoided wasting resources and fostered a culture of experimentation, showing that we could make impactful changes without waiting for exhaustive data to justify our decisions.
Identify who needs to be in the room
Rather than filling up your schedule with endless meetings and deliberation, encourage action. Empower your team to make decisions without relying on executives for every call.
It's important to differentiate between who needs to make the decision and who simply needs to be informed—these are often two very different groups.
This also underscores the importance of having a capable and trusted team. When you surround yourself with competent domain experts and foster collaboration, you can confidently give people the freedom to make decisions independently.
Trust is key—without it, decision-making becomes a constant uphill battle.
A word of caution
It’s good to remember that our ability to make decisions isn’t endless. The more we try to take in, the more we wear ourselves out, which is why decision-making tends to get harder as the day goes on. That’s why it’s so important to prioritize what really matters and make quick calls on the big stuff.
Also, be careful with the extremes. It's one thing to be known for having a bend for action, for getting things done and pushing boundaries. But it's critical to be grounded in what's possible (okay, maybe push it a bit) lest you risk losing believability and trust.
We all work hard in "startuplandia," and expect an incredible amount from ourselves and the rest of the team. But we've honed our sense of what's possible to ensure we can meet deadlines and commitments.
Without this, you'll find a team that gets discouraged, loses motivation, and even risks becoming resentful.
It’s more than just make it happen
It's about finding the right balance between speed and thoughtfulness, between pushing boundaries and staying grounded in reality. It's about empowering your team, fostering trust, and creating an environment where rapid learning and growth are not just possible, but expected.
As we continue to build and grow Truffle, this philosophy remains at the core of our approach. We're excited to see where this bend to action will take us next.
What's your take on the balance between action and deliberation? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.