Build the Plan. Make the Thing. Ship It Fast.
Zack Holland
Founder & CEO
9 minutes
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Build the Plan. Make the Thing. Ship It Fast.
Consider this the manifesto for execution-first brands.
Meanwhile, your current marketing strategy is 72 slides long.
It took six weeks to create.
It contains exactly zero finished campaigns.
Sound familiar?
We've created an industry where planning has replaced doing. Where strategy has become a substitute for shipping. Where talking about the work matters more than making the work.
That stops now.
Strategy Decks Don't Move Markets. Shipped Work Does.
Let's be brutally honest with ourselves: C
Netflix didn't disrupt entertainment with a strategy deck. They shipped a better experience.
Stripe didn't revolutionize payments with a roadmap. They shipped a better product.
Airbnb didn't transform travel with a slide presentation. They shipped a better platform.
Yet marketing teams everywhere waste months debating minor details in documents that customers will never see, while actual campaigns sit in eternal "draft" mode.
The Execution Problem Nobody Talks About
Here's marketing's dirty little secret (from a marketer):
We don't have an ideas problem. We have an execution problem.
The gap between "good strategy" and "work in market" isn't about inspiration.
It's about implementation.
Most marketing teams are drowning in:
Process theater: Meetings about meetings. Documents about documents. Work about work.
Tool overwhelm: 15+ disconnected platforms creating more friction than flow.
Approval paralysis: Rounds of feedback that polish all the life out of good ideas.
Strategy addiction: The false comfort of planning as a substitute for shipping.
We've built systems where execution is an afterthought—something that happens (maybe, eventually) after the "real work" of strategizing is done.
That's backwards. And it's f'n killing your momentum.
The New Playbook: Build. Make. Ship.
The brands that win today aren't just thinking differently—they're operating differently.
They've flipped the script:
Build the plan: Quick, clear, actionable. Hours, not weeks.
Make the thing: Execution is where the magic happens.
Ship it fast: Get it in market, learn, improve. Repeat.
This isn't about being sloppy. Not even close.
It's about being deliberate with your time and energy. It's about recognizing that execution isn't what happens after strategy—it's where strategy comes alive.
The Velocity Advantage
There's a massive competitive advantage in being the brand that ships while others are still planning.
While they're perfecting slide 47, you've launched and learned.
While they're scheduling the next planning meeting, you're analyzing real results.
While they're debating theoretical customer reactions, you're getting actual feedback.
This isn't just about speed for speed's sake. It's about the compound interest of learning cycles.
The team that ships 10 times more often learns 10 times faster.
The gap between them and everyone else doesn't grow linearly—it grows exponentially.
How the Best Teams Ship Faster
The execution-first brands winning today have ditched the old operating system.
They've rebuilt their workflow around three core principles:
1. Clarity Over Comprehensiveness
They've realized that an 80% clear brief executed today beats a 99% perfect brief executed next quarter.
They focus on answering the critical questions:
What are we making?
Who is it for?
What does success look like?
What's our timeline?
Everything else is commentary.
2. Tools That Accelerate, Not Complicate
They've stopped adding more tools to their stack and started integrating the ones they have.
They build systems where:
Strategy connects directly to execution
Briefs turn into action items automatically
Content flows from creation to publication without friction
AI amplifies human creativity instead of replacing it
3. Decision Velocity as a Competitive Advantage
They've recognized that in marketing, the ability to make good decisions quickly trumps the ability to make perfect decisions slowly.
They build decision frameworks that:
Push authority to the edges
Reduce approval bottlenecks
Create clear ownership
Value shipping over perfection
The Make-Ship-Learn Loop
The real magic happens when you turn execution into a learning system—a tight feedback loop that drives continuous improvement:
Make something (even if it's not perfect)
Ship it fast (days, not weeks)
Learn from results (not opinions)
Apply insights (to the next thing)
Repeat (with increasing confidence)
Each cycle makes you smarter.
Each launch builds momentum.
Each shipped campaign brings you closer to breakthrough results.
This isn't theoretical. We've seen brands:
Launch entire campaigns in 72 hours instead of 6 weeks
Create 5x more content with the same team size
Cut meeting time by 60% while shipping more work
Transform six-month roadmaps into six-day sprints that actually deliver
Build Your Execution Engine
Ready to become a brand that ships?
Start here:
Audit your execution ratio: What percentage of planned work actually ships? If it's below 80%, you have an execution problem.
Map your creation-to-launch timeline: How long does it take to go from approved brief to work in market? Every day you can shave off this timeline compounds over time.
Identify your friction points: Where does work slow down or stall? These are your execution opportunities.
Build for velocity: Design systems that optimize for speed of execution, not just quality of planning.
Ship something this week: Not next quarter. Not when it's perfect. This week.
The Tools Matter (But Less Than You Think )
Yes, you need the right tools. But more importantly, you need the right mindset.
The best execution system in the world won't help a team addicted to planning. And a team committed to shipping will find ways to execute even with imperfect tools.
That said, the right platform can be rocket fuel for execution.
It should:
Connect strategy directly to implementation
Reduce context-switching between tools
Automate the mundane so humans can focus on creativity
Use AI to accelerate, not replace, human judgment
Streamline approval flows to maintain momentum
That's exactly what we've built at Averi—not another planning tool, but an execution engine that helps brands ship better work, faster.
A Challenge: Ship Something This Week
Here's a radical idea: Take one project that's been stuck in planning mode and commit to shipping it this week.
Not when it's perfect. Not when everyone agrees. Not when you have complete certainty.
This week.
You'll learn more from getting that one thing in market than from all the planning sessions you could schedule.
Because the truth is, the best brands aren't just thinking about what to build—they're actually building it.
They're not just planning the work—they're shipping it.
And that makes all the difference.
Build. Make. Ship. Repeat.
This is your permission slip to value execution over planning. To prioritize shipping over perfection. To build a brand that's known for what it makes, not what it meetings about.
The strategy decks can wait.
It's time to ship.
And if you want help… let Averi be the kick in the a** you need.
TL;DR
✅ Strategy without execution is just expensive conversation
✅ The gap between great brands and everyone else is shipping velocity
✅ Build systems that turn ideas into action in days, not quarters
✅ AI + human expertise creates an unfair advantage in execution speed
✅ Ship something this week—you'll learn more than from a month of planning
