Tim Darling - The Strategist

What is Strategy?
January, 2019

4 Steps to Develop a Strategy:
How to Build a Strategy for a Data and Analytics-Based Startup

1 – What’s a High $ Pain Point that Keeps Someone Awake at Night?
February, 2019
2 – What’s Our Unique Approach to Unlock the Value Pool?
February, 2019
3 – Why Us? Why Can’t Two Kids in a Dorm Room Build This?
February, 2019
4 – How Will We Engage and Delight Our Users?
February, 2019

Why Strategy and Analytics? Why, Together, are They Important?

Close Your Eyes and Imagine an Example of a Strategy. Got Nothing?
February, 2019
Is Strategy Dead?
February, 2019
Why Strategy and Analytics (Together) are the Future of AI
February, 2019
Lawrence of Arabia, the Original Agile Disruptor, Had Sore Feet
February, 2019
Startups Should Do “Value Pool Sizing”, Not Market Sizing
February, 2019
Strategy and Agility: Lessons from Toyota, Honda, Yamaha, and Tesla
February, 2019

18 Steps to Develop a New Company or Product

1 – Fill Your Founding Team With “MacGyvers”
March, 2019
2 – Find People with No Teeth to Inform Your Product Design Process
March, 2019
3 – Some Strategy Mistakes I’ve Made
March, 2019
4 – Finding New Area of Growth: Lessons from Disney and DC Comics
May, 2019
5 – Does Your Product Only Need to Change the Behavior of a Few Users?
May, 2019
6 – How to Develop the 2nd Product Your Startup Needs: A Sales Engine
May, 2019
7 – How to Avoid the 7 Stages of Grief When Naming Your Company
May, 2019
8 – How to Create a Pitch Deck for Investors
August, 2019
9 – How to Raise Funds for Your Startup
September, 2019
10 – Why Coca-Cola’s Mission Statement is the Perfect Template for Yours
September, 2019
11 – Anyone Who Claims They Have “The Perfect Sales Deck” is Missing the Point
September, 2019
12 – How Do You Know If You Have Product-Market Fit?
October, 2019
13 – How “Putting the Kale in the Pancakes” Can Reconcile the Needs of Buyers and Users
November, 2019
14 – How to Get Users to Use Your Product
December, 2019
15 – How to Get Users to Use Your Product on a Daily Basis
December, 2019
16 – Take a Lesson from Google, Intel, and Others … Use OKRs Instead of Product Roadmaps
May, 2020
17 – Can You Scale Your Company Without Losing Your Identity?
June, 2020
18 – How to Prove that Your Product is Creating Impact
June, 2020

Other Thoughts on Strategy, Analytics, Launching a Company, and Building Products

Do Your Marketing, Sales, and Product Materials Tell the Same Continuous Story?
July, 2020
PayPal’s Strategy and How It Evolved Over Time
August, 2020
Should You Sign Your First Customers for Free?
September, 2020
Lessons on Corporate Growth and Culture from the American Civil War
June, 2021
There are 18 Sources of Competitive Advantage. Which Ones Do You Have?
November, 2020
Revenue Growth and ROIC Are All That Matter
December, 2020
4 Attributes of the Most Successful Companies, According to McKinsey
December, 2020
Are You Avoiding “Demo Creep”?
October 4, 2019
Is “Big Data” Distracting You from the Power of “Small Data”?
October 11, 2019
10 lessons from the German Blitzkrieg for Corporate Strategists Today (Part 1/2)
October 18, 2019
10 lessons from the German Blitzkrieg for Corporate Strategists Today (Part 2/2)
October 25, 2019
Why Innovation Has to be Costly and Uncomfortable
TBD
The 5 Tests of How Lean/Agile Your Company Is
TBD
An Evolutionary Explanation for the Power of Startups
TBD
What Kills Innovation in Large Companies? How Can We Fix It?
TBD
1st Generation Corporations (e.g. IBM, P&G, and Kraft) are on the Cusp of Obsolescence
TBD
2nd Generation Corporations (e.g. Apple) are the Equivalent of American Civil War Armies
TBD
3rd Generation Corporations (e.g. Amazon and McKinsey) are the Equivalent of German Blitzes
TBD
Life as an Entrepreneur
TBD
What Startups Can Learn from Mozart
TBD
Strategic Communication Lessons from Thomas Jefferson
TBD
What the United States Can Teach Us About Centralizing Strategy and De-centralizing Execution
TBD
Stop Putting Startups Through “Moonshot Thinking” Exercises
TBD
Why Are You Still Doing Annual Strategic Planning?
TBD
How to Use the “4 Steps to Develop a Strategy” to Navigate Your Career
TBD
Why I Stopped Saying “Fail Fast”: When You’re Learning You Make Mistakes, But That’s Not Failure
TBD
Hire Agility, Team Contributors, and Strategists; Fire Hubristic Power-Grabbers
TBD
Avoid These Famous Strategy Frameworks
TBD
How the Patriots Won Superbowl 51
January, 2020
An Executive’s Guide to Implementing AI and Machine Learning
March, 2019
How We Accidentally Fired All of Our Top Performers
June, 2019


I’ve been building startups and products since 2002. This blog shares some of the know-how I’ve learned along the way. My focus is strategy powered by analytics and vice-versa. The 2 areas are based on my experiences as a McKinsey consultant and a Chief Analytics Officer. My goal for these articles.

As of 2019, I am a founder, a Chief Analytics/Strategy Officer, an independent board director, and an entrepreneur-in-residence.


Art by Francesco Dibattista   |   Find me on linkedin.