"We strive to be the leading provider of innovative solutions that empower our customers to achieve their goals." I pulled that from a real company's website. It could describe any company on earth. It helps nobody make decisions. It's decoration. Most mission statements are garbage because founders treat them as marketing copy. They wordsmith something that sounds impressive, hang it on the wall, and never think about it again. What a waste. A mission statement has one job: end arguments. When your team debates whether to add a feature, chase a customer segment, or hire a candidate, your mission should answer the question. If it doesn't, you've written the wrong mission. ## The Three Pillars Before we dive into the process, here's how the pieces fit together: | Element | What It Does | Time Frame | Example | |---------|--------------|------------|---------| | Mission | Defines what you do and for whom | Present | "Help bootstrapped founders reach $10K MRR" | | Vision | Describes where you're going | Future (5-10 years) | "A world where anyone can build a profitable business" | | Values | Guides behavior when mission doesn't apply | Always | "Ship weekly, even if imperfect" | ## Example: Amazon's Strategic Foundation Let me show you what good looks like. Here's how Amazon's mission, vision, and values work together: | Element | Amazon's Version | How It Guides Decisions | |---------|------------------|-------------------------| | Mission | "To be Earth's most customer-centric company" | Every debate ends with "what's best for customers?" | | Vision | "To be Earth's best employer and safest place to work" | Long-term investments in culture and safety | | Values | "Customer Obsession," "Bias for Action," "Frugality" | Hire for these traits, fire for violating them | Notice how specific Amazon's mission is. When someone proposes something that isn't customer-centric, the answer is no. The mission decided, not politics or whoever argues loudest. ## The 90-Minute Foundation Session Here's exactly how we develop mission, vision, and values in a single session—using AI to accelerate the process. **Minutes 0-20: Mine Your History with AI** Start by answering these questions honestly (record yourself or write stream-of-consciousness): - Why did you *actually* start this company? Not the pitch deck version. - What makes you angry about how your industry works? - What would you build if money didn't matter? - What do you believe that most people in your space would disagree with? Then use this prompt to extract patterns: I'm going to share my answers to some reflection questions about why I started my company. Please analyze them and extract: 1. Recurring themes and frustrations 2. Emotional triggers that keep appearing 3. The core belief that seems to drive everything 4. Who I seem most passionate about helping 5. What outcome I keep describing, even in different words Be specific and quote my actual words when identifying patterns. **Minutes 20-40: Draft Your Mission** Use this template: **We help [audience] to [outcome] by [method].** Then use AI to generate variations and stress-test: Based on this founder analysis: [PASTE AI OUTPUT FROM PREVIOUS STEP] Generate 5 mission statement options using the format: "We help [specific audience] to [specific outcome] by [specific method]" For each option: - Rate specificity (1-10): Could this only describe my company? - Rate decision-utility (1-10): Would this help me decide what to build next? - Identify what customer or feature decisions this would rule OUT Then recommend which option is strongest and why. **Minutes 40-60: Stress-Test Everything** Take your draft mission and run it through this validation: Here's my draft mission statement: [YOUR MISSION] Please stress-test it: 1. Name 3 companies this could also describe. If you can name them easily, it's too vague. 2. Give me a realistic feature request this mission would reject. If you can't think of one, it's not specific enough. 3. Give me a customer type this mission would say "no" to. Same test. 4. What's the weakest word in this statement? 5. Rewrite it to be 20% more specific. **Minutes 60-75: Define Real Values** The test for a real value is whether its opposite is a reasonable choice. | Fake Value | Why It's Fake | Real Alternative | |------------|---------------|------------------| | "We value integrity" | Nobody chooses corruption | "We admit mistakes publicly within 24 hours" | | "We value quality" | Nobody chooses to ship garbage | "We ship weekly, even if imperfect" | | "We value teamwork" | Nobody wants to work alone | "We fire high performers who undermine others" | Use this prompt to develop real values: I'm developing company values that actually guide decisions. For each value I propose, tell me: 1. Is the opposite a reasonable choice another company might make? 2. What decision would this value help me make? 3. What would this value cost me? (Real values have costs) 4. How would I test if a job candidate shares this value? My proposed values: [LIST YOUR 3-5 PROPOSED VALUES] For any fake values, suggest a more specific, costly alternative. **Minutes 75-90: Create Your Vision** Your vision should be ambitious, future-tense, and slightly uncomfortable. Use this prompt: Given this mission: [YOUR MISSION] And these values: [YOUR VALUES] Generate 3 vision statement options that: - Describe what the world looks like if we fully succeed (5-10 years out) - Are ambitious enough to inspire but specific enough to guide - Connect logically to the mission (vision is mission achieved at scale) For each option, explain what strategic choices it implies. ## Common Mistakes **Mistake 1: Letting AI write the meaning** AI can stress-test, rephrase, and generate options. But the meaning must come from founders. If you ask AI to "write a mission for a fintech startup," you'll get generic garbage. The value comes from your specific frustrations, insights, and history. **Mistake 2: Making the mission aspirational** "To revolutionize how the world communicates" might feel inspiring, but it doesn't help you decide anything today. That's what the vision is for. The mission describes your current focus, specific enough to guide this quarter's decisions. **Mistake 3: Values without teeth** If violating a value has no consequences, it's not a value—it's decoration. Netflix famously fires people who are "brilliant jerks." That's a value with teeth. **Mistake 4: Too many values** More than five values means you have no values. People can't remember seven things. Pick the three to five that actually matter and would cost you something to uphold. ## Your Action Items Block 90 minutes with your founding team this week Record your answers to the four reflection questions Run the founder analysis prompt and save the output Draft three mission options using the template Stress-test your favorite with the validation prompt Write three values that have real costs Test each value: can you name the opposite? Draft a vision that connects to mission-at-scale Share with one skeptical advisor for feedback The 90 minutes you spend on this will save hundreds of hours of circular debates later. More importantly, it will help you build something coherent instead of a collection of features that don't add up to anything.