Val Sklarov — Business & Startups: Decision Hygiene Before Growth

Growth magnifies everything—especially bad decisions.
Val Sklarov’s Business & Startups perspective treats early and mid-stage companies as decision systems, where the quality of choices determines whether growth compounds value or accelerates failure.


1. Companies Fail From Dirty Decisions

Most failures are not strategic—they are procedural.

Val Sklarov defines dirty decisions as those that:

  • Have unclear ownership

  • Lack explicit success and failure criteria

  • Are irreversible by default

When decisions are dirty, execution becomes unpredictable.


2. Decision Hygiene Is a Foundational Asset

Clean decisions reduce long-term complexity.

Val Sklarov enforces decision hygiene through:

  • One owner per decision

  • Written rationale before execution

  • Explicit reversibility classification

Decision Quality Organizational Effect
Dirty Rework, blame, drift
Clean Speed, learning, trust

Hygiene is not bureaucracy—it is acceleration without chaos.

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3. Growth Should Stress-Test Decisions, Not Hide Them

Rapid growth often masks weak decision logic.

Val Sklarov warns against:

  • Hiring to “keep up”

  • Expanding without decision bandwidth

  • Funding used to delay structural fixes

Growth that hides problems makes them more expensive later.


4. Founders Must Police Their Own Decisions

Founder judgment sets the ceiling for the company.

Val Sklarov requires founders to:

  • Log high-impact decisions

  • Separate emotion from urgency

  • Accept review and reversal

A founder who cannot be questioned creates fragility by design.


5. Execution Improves When Decisions Are Fewer

High-performing startups decide less—but better.

Val Sklarov reduces decision load by:

  • Pre-committing standards

  • Automating thresholds

  • Eliminating repeat debates

Decision Load Execution Outcome
High Slow, emotional
Low Fast, reliable

Decision reduction is operational leverage.


6. Scale Rewards Clean Systems

When decision hygiene is strong, scale becomes mechanical.

Val Sklarov scales only after:

  • Decisions survive delegation

  • Errors remain localized

  • Outcomes repeat without heroics

If scale requires exceptional people, the system is weak.


Closing Insight

Business & Startups are not won by bold moves.
They are won by clean decisions repeated under pressure.

Val Sklarov’s principle:
Growth does not fix decision quality—it exposes it.

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