When I started my own company, I did things by feel. Moving fast, trying different things, following whatever seemed interesting at the time. It felt productive. There was always something to do, someone to talk to, a new idea to explore.

But after a while, I noticed something. All that movement was not really taking me anywhere. I was busy, but I was not building anything. Every decision felt like starting from scratch, and there was no thread connecting things together.

I am not saying everything needs to be clear from the beginning. But having a vision, something that makes you excited and keeps you going in the hardest moments, that matters more than most people think.

That feeling was the beginning of something important.

Speed is not the advantage anymore

We live in a time where you can build a product in hours. AI accelerates everything. The barrier to create has never been lower, and new tools, new platforms and new possibilities appear every week. On the surface, that sounds like a good thing. More speed, more options, more output.

But speed without direction is just noise. When everyone can build the same thing in the same amount of time, the question shifts. It is no longer about who can move the fastest. It is about who knows why they are moving and where they are going.

That is where values come in. When everything can be copied, automated or replicated overnight, values are one of the few things that cannot be faked. Not in the long run.

The companies that last believe in something

Think about the companies that have lasted. Disney, Apple, Marimekko. They are all very different in size, industry and approach, but they share something fundamental: a clear sense of what they believe in and what they are building towards. Apple has always believed in the intersection of technology and humanity. Disney has never stopped believing in the power of storytelling. Marimekko has held on to the idea that everyday life deserves colour, joy and design that lasts.

That belief did not make them rigid. It made them adaptable. When markets shifted, when technology changed, when competitors appeared, they had something to return to. A foundation that told them what to keep and what to let go.

The paradox of values

That is the paradox of values. They feel like a constraint, but they are actually what gives you the freedom to move. Without them, every new trend becomes a distraction. With them, you can filter quickly and focus on what actually matters.

Adapting is easier when the foundation is solid. When you know what you stand for, you can change almost everything else without losing yourself or your direction. You can experiment, pivot and take risks because you have an anchor.

Values show up in your services

Eventually, this should be reflected in individual services. It is much easier to build services when you understand the larger purpose they support. This is perhaps one of the most commonly forgotten things when services are designed. They end up feeling disconnected, and customers struggle to understand the story behind them.

Take a record shop as an example. On the surface, it sells records. But behind that, there might be a bigger vision, a belief that analogue music experiences should be accessible to everyone. With that belief in place, it becomes much easier to build services that support the same idea. Monthly in-store artist performances, for example, are not just an event. They are an expression of what the company stands for.

The work that pays back

The hard work of defining what you believe in, what kind of company you want to build and who you want to serve might feel slow at the beginning. It might even feel like a waste of time when everyone else is moving fast.

But in my experience, that work pays back. Every time.

So if you are at the beginning of something, or feeling like you are running in all directions, maybe it is worth slowing down for a moment. Not to stop, but to get clear.

What do you believe in? What are you really building? And who is it for?

Those are not easy questions. But they might be the most important ones you ask.