Whenever someone starts a new business, the first piece of advice they get is to create a business plan. That’s solid advice — but here’s the problem: most business plans are little more than financial forecasts, market opportunity slides, and a rough marketing strategy. They rarely go deeper. Very few business plans actually include a strategic map — one that highlights the critical roadblocks, organizational challenges, and structural traps that can cripple growth before it ever takes off. Silos, fragile vendor-customer dynamics, misaligned incentives, and the constant tug-of-war between pushing innovation and pulling demand all lurk just beneath the surface. If you don’t spot them early, they’ll quietly sabotage your success. This article lays out a strategic mapping approach that puts these challenges front and center. It’s a simple, holistic way to see where things can — and often do — go wrong, and how to build your business development efforts to overcome these pitfalls from the start.