Regulations can make or break your business. In the heavily regulated fields (financial services, medtech, public sector, etc.), being non-compliant can lead to the end of your business.

The first step is to be aware of applicable regulations for your business and their impact on your business plan. While some apply to (almost) all businesses (e.g., Data protection), 99% of regulations are sector-specific (FinTech, Crypto, MedTech, etc.).

There are as many approaches as there are companies and often, regulations were written for the status quo, leading to uncertainty how old regulations apply to new technology and business models. This uncertainty creates risks, and it is all about a strategic decision on how to approach these risks.

For example, many tech companies, such as Facebook (i.e., Meta), have had an approach that is often qualified (see notably Taplin's book) as "Move Fast and Break Things". In contrast, Koch Industries has been famous for following the 10'000% compliant principle, meaning to be 100% compliant in 100% of the cases.

Ultimately, what matters is to make a conscious decision about how you want your company to approach regulatory risks. Often, more established companies must take less risks as they have more to lose, while startups can take calculated risks to gain more. In any case, even if regulations are sometimes uncertain, we recommend to always do the right thing and follow the spirit of the law - business models that clearly exploit legal loopholes and harm society rarely last long.