Curry: Operating plans and budgets must derive from a concise written strategy
Jim Curry · Building Long-Term Success through Operator-Led Investing in AI-Enabled SaaS · Jun 16, 2025 · at 5:20
Jim Curry, CEO of Build Group, explains how operator-led investors help early-growth founders maintain strategic focus amidst daily operational distractions.
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“The number one thing that I think we do, right, that, that really helps companies is we help them define their strategy every year. And I tell them, don't have to do a lot of work on this. It can be a one to five page document, but write your strategy down. You should know exactly what you're trying to do. Why is that important? Well, you need to communicate with your management team what the strategy is, and you need to align on it, and you need to align your board around that. The second thing you need to do is create an operating plan from it. Well, you can't create an operating plan without a strategy, and you should make sure that everything in your operating plan matches your strategy. And then the next piece is the budget. Are you actually spending money to support the operating plan that supports the strategy?”
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