The Kill List: Why Deciding What To Stop Doing Matters More Than What To Start

The average growth-stage founder I work through diagnostics with has around 23 items on their priority list. Meaningful cognitive bandwidth covers about three. The result: 23 things each getting 4% attention, none of them moving. This is how real strategic priorities become theatrical busy-work — everyone's working hard, nothing is shifting. The most powerful part of a real execution plan isn't new actions. It's the explicit, reasoned decision to stop doing specific things — traced to specific findings, with a reason and a date. Not 'deprioritise,' which means nothing in practice. Stop. The question worth sitting with: what's on your kill list this quarter? Most founders don't have one.