For me, it's more like "Begin with a mission, not a goal."<p>I originally talked to Ben about this, and it sort of hearkens back to the whole debate on visionary vs. tactical leaders.<p>Paul Graham said recently, "If you have some kind of big visionary plan, you're probably Webvan." That's absolutely true. Starting with a niche feature (Payments for Palm Pilots, not payments for everyone--PayPal. Profiles for college students, not generic social networking--Facebook) and making it work insanely well is crucial. But, that's all about executing on a certain goal.<p>PayPal and Facebook also dared to aspire to something much greater from the beginning. As the post mentions, to become truly successful, there has to be a greater "there" there. If you don't have a mission, you'll execute on your goals at half-effort at best.