What Not to Do
One of the great things about founders is they have so many ideas. That's why I love working with them: unlike most of us who go through day-to-day life passively consuming what already exists, founders have the fire and the energy to bring new things to life.
That said, one of the most important skills in building a company, or indeed in any resource-constrained pursuit, is to figure out what not to do. Ideas are valuable, but you can have too much of a good thing - the dose makes the poison.
One of my favourite books is Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. To quote:
"Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on one, or a very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes"
By definition, then, "good strategy" relies on choosing things you're not going to pursue right now. Sometimes that means tough choices, but often it just requires resequencing. The ideas don't go away, and very few are truly "now or never". Mostly it's a case of just moving them out to a moment where resources permit.
In the short-term, the focus must be on achieving the highest leverage objectives - those that preserve optionality and deepen long-term advantage - with the minimum possible distraction.
Keep the main thing the main thing, as they say.