I recently attended a girls’ school football championship in London, where my daughter was playing, and while watching teams that were still very early in their journey, I had a surprisingly clear business insight.
What I saw on the pitch looked almost identical to how companies compete at different stages of growth.
Early-stage competition: persistence beats technique
In the amateur league, none of the teams were particularly technical. These were beginners who were still learning the fundamentals of the game, and at that level, success had very little to do with skill.
The teams that won were not the ones playing “correct” football. They were the ones willing to fight for the ball longer, run a little further, and stay engaged even when the game looked messy. Persistence, stamina, and sheer willingness to keep going mattered far more than technique.
This mirrors what happens in early-stage companies. When a business is just starting out, there is rarely a meaningful technical advantage. Products are imperfect, processes are immature, and data infrastructure is usually fragmented or incomplete. At this stage, companies win because they are willing to stay in the game longer than others, experiment more, and push through uncertainty.
In early growth phases, execution consistency and endurance are often more important than sophistication.
Mature-stage competition: when skills equalize, mindset decides
The professional league in the same championship told a very different story.
In the final, both teams were technically strong. Their skills were comparable, their tactics were solid, and neither had a clear technical advantage. One team dominated possession and spent most of the game attacking, yet still lost on penalties.
The winning team was not superior in technique. What stood out instead was their emotional stability, cohesion, and energy. They played as a unit, supported each other, and visibly enjoyed the game, even under pressure.
This is exactly what happens in mature companies.
Once organizations reach a certain level of scale, most competitors have similar tools, comparable talent, and access to the same technologies. In data-driven businesses, everyone has dashboards, analytics platforms, and BI tools. At that point, technical capability becomes table stakes.
The real differentiator shifts to something else entirely: resilience, alignment, and emotional engagement with the work.
What this means for data-driven organizations
From a business intelligence and analytics perspective, this shift is critical.
- Early-stage companies need simple, reliable data foundations that help them move fast and stay focused.
- Mature companies need systems that support decision-making under pressure, help teams stay aligned, and prevent burnout caused by constant reactive firefighting.
At scale, analytics is no longer just about accuracy or completeness. It is about enabling confidence, clarity, and emotional stability in decision-making. When teams trust their data and understand what matters most, they waste less energy on internal debates and can focus on execution.
This is where modern BI systems, data maturity models, and decision-support analytics become essential. Not because they make companies “smarter” in theory, but because they help organizations remain calm, aligned, and resilient when technical advantages no longer exist.
The competitive advantage that rarely gets discussed
In early stages, companies often win by simply refusing to quit.
In later stages, they win by enjoying the game enough to keep performing at a high level over time.
When skills, tools, and technologies converge, mindset becomes the advantage.
And in business, just like in football, that mindset is shaped by how clearly teams see reality, how confidently they make decisions, and how much trust they have in the systems supporting them.