Aligning your business vision and tech strategy is nothing more than getting the right person or team and then ensuring you have good communication between yourselves. You also need to note that a business vision represents lateral thinking while a lot of technology leaders are linear thinkers. You want your technology strategy to match the lateral thinking of your business strategy while also providing clear guidance for the linear thinking required for executing that technology blueprint.

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By tech strategy I do not mean the actual day to day execution of a strategy, rather I mean the big picture things that need to be in place to lay a roadmap and support the day to day execution.

Turning an idea into a technology product is challenging—it’s easy for execution to drift away from the original vision.

Founders and business leaders are typically visionaries and poses grand ideas to make change or improve or even disrupt the way things are done in an industry. At the same time we all know that ideas are cheap and execution is gold. Execution is what makes the visioned impact possible and without execution nothing happens, the vision just fades and the idea dies.

A failed idea isn’t the worst outcome—poor execution is. It wastes time, resources, and leaves you stuck where you started.Poor execution leads to wasted time, resources, and a product that doesn’t reflect your original vision. While failures can be learning experiences, this article aims to help you avoid costly mistakes and achieve alignment from the start.

Let’s discuss the causes of misalignment and what to do about it.

Give More Attention to What Your Vision Depends On

Disregarding or downplaying the importance of technology in the first place. You would wonder why a founder that knows their vision depends on technology would do this. The answer is that it may not be deliberate and this stems from the fact that the founder themselves do not understand tech, in-depth, and specific to the tech they need.

The problem with downplaying the role of technology in the execution of your vision is that you will fail to recognise the limitations of tech and the impact it has on your vision. You will also fail to appreciate the time and effort that goes into producing outcomes that deceptively look easy on the surface.

For example: Your vision may require that AI be applied in a certain aspect of an industry but executing it may need an AI model trained which would require lots or data and would take a long time and would cost a lot. If you do not appreciate these things simply because you have seen what other models can do without insights into how they were developed you would push for unrealistic targets which would lead to corners being cut and your vision and technology drifting apart (no longer aligned).

Getting a Skilled Technical Leader that Speaks the language of Business

A vision won’t translate into a tech strategy on its own. You need a skilled tech leader who understands both business and technology to turn your vision into a concrete execution plan. Just having a technical leader that only knows technical stuff would appear impressive but if they cannot understand business language then the tech strategy would be poor.

If there is one thing that would have the biggest impact on ensuring that your business vision is aligned with your tech strategy it would be getting a skilled technology leader. What you really need to get is not a technical leader but a technical leader that truly understands business.

For example: Your business vision may be to be the go-to platform for users in a specific industry. Now, instead of focusing on a tech strategy that would ensure that fewer bugs are produced, a better way would be to focus on a  tech strategy that would ensure less customer reported issues.

The example above essentially shows two ways of viewing the same thing but you need a technology leader that understands, speaks, and views things from the latter point of view. A tech leader that does this shows that they understand the value that the business delivers to customers and exactly what the role of technology is in delivering that value. The former “focusing on a tech strategy that would ensure that fewer bugs are produced” simply sees technology for technology’s sake and it does not tie into the business vision.

How Do You Tell a Tech Leader Understands the Language of Business?

Here are a few ways you can tell if someone understands the language of business:

• Obvious one is to find out if they have worked at an executive level before and how much experience they have doing that. Working at an executive level or working with executives means that they have exposure to the way such executives think and communicate.
• How do they understand your business vision? Are they only able to explain it in technical terms and details or are they able to express it in both business and high-level technical terms?
• They have the ability to explain complex tech in simple business terms. Ask them to explain AI, blockchain, or cloud computing without using technical jargon. If they struggle or overcomplicate it, they may not fully grasp business communication.
• They are able to link tech decisions to revenue and are also able to see how certain tech decisions can have a negative impact on the business.

Getting Along with your Tech Leader

Not having a good rapport between business and technology. By this I mean that if the founder with the vision does not get along well with the technical leader then the technology strategy will tell. The two parties would not necessarily be against each other but without that rapport the much needed communication would not flow between the two parties and the end result would be a tech strategy that looks good on paper but fails when it comes to execution.

A strong working relationship between the business leader (founder, CEO, or product visionary) and the technical leader (CTO, VP of Engineering, or lead developer) is critical for aligning business goals with a successful tech strategy. Misalignment in this relationship doesn’t just cause friction—it leads to poor execution, wasted resources, and a product that doesn’t reflect the original vision.

It’s important to recognise that business and technical leaders often think differently:

• Founders & Business Leaders → Big-picture thinkers, focused on vision, market positioning, and growth.

• Tech Leaders → Detail-oriented, focused on feasibility, execution, and optimisation.

When these perspectives don’t align, misunderstandings, frustration, and inefficiencies arise.

Closing Thoughts

A successful business-tech alignment starts with the right leadership, clear communication, and a shared understanding of the end goal. If you invest in these three areas, your tech strategy won’t just support your vision—it will bring it to life.