I don&#x27;t know, this advice feels a little off?<p>Perhaps a better way to say this is &quot;execution doesn&#x27;t matter if your strategy isn&#x27;t working&quot;.  The way this is written seems to diminish the effort that happens between the pivot and the exit.  It also seems to diminish the luck and timing involved (frothy markets, AOL&#x27;s ravenous acquisition appetite, popularity of ad models, etc)<p>&quot;Ultimately Dave decided to flip the go to market model to an ad network and within a year the business exploded and it sold a few years later to AOL for something like $275mm.&quot;<p>It also seems to contradict of most startup advice I hear [1], which is some variation of &quot;Ideas are easy.  Execution is everything&quot;<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inc.com&#x2F;laura-montini&#x2F;john-doerr-3-things-understand-before-starting-company.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inc.com&#x2F;laura-montini&#x2F;john-doerr-3-things-underst...</a>