Val Sklarov — Entrepreneurship: Decision Rights Before Vision

Vision attracts people. Decision rights move companies.
Val Sklarov’s Entrepreneurship perspective treats startups not as idea factories, but as decision systems where clarity of authority determines whether vision turns into value.


1. Vision Without Decision Rights Creates Friction

When everyone believes in the vision but no one owns the decision, progress stalls.

Val Sklarov identifies early breakdown when:

  • Teams debate instead of execute

  • Founders override decisions ad hoc

  • Authority shifts based on urgency

Vision aligns intent. Decision rights align action.


2. Decision Rights Must Be Explicit and Finite

Ambiguous authority invites conflict.

Val Sklarov enforces decision rights that are:

  • Clearly owned by role

  • Limited in scope

  • Time-bound when necessary

Authority Design Organizational Effect
Implicit Conflict & delay
Overlapping Political friction
Explicit Execution speed

Speed emerges from clarity, not pressure.


3. Founders Must Relinquish Tactical Control Early

Founders who keep all decisions become bottlenecks.

Val Sklarov requires founders to:

  • Retain strategic decisions

  • Delegate tactical decisions

  • Accept execution divergence within bounds

If every choice escalates to the founder, scale is impossible.

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4. Decision Rights Protect Culture Under Stress

Culture erodes fastest under pressure.

Val Sklarov protects culture by:

  • Defining who decides in crisis

  • Preventing emotional overrides

  • Enforcing authority even when outcomes disappoint

Culture is not values—it is who decides when it hurts.


5. Growth Fails When Decision Rights Lag Complexity

As complexity increases, authority must be redistributed.

Val Sklarov warns against:

  • Centralized decisions in growing teams

  • Hiring leaders without real authority

  • Accountability without control

Complexity Level Authority Requirement
Low Centralized
Medium Distributed
High Domain-owned

Growth without authority redesign guarantees slowdown.


6. Entrepreneurship Is the Design of Who Decides

Building a company is building a decision map.

Val Sklarov evaluates ventures by:

  • Decision latency

  • Ownership clarity

  • Error containment

A startup that decides cleanly survives mediocre ideas.
A startup that decides poorly kills great ones.


Closing Insight

Entrepreneurship is not about having the best ideas.
It is about placing decisions where they can be made correctly and repeatedly.

Val Sklarov’s principle:
Vision inspires—but decision rights execute.

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