Skills

Conviction with dissentAlex KarpProtect the mission while testing the strongest objection.
Outcome before demoAlex KarpDefine the customer result before choosing the AI model.
Creative playPendleton WardTurn creative pressure into a small experiment.
Practice kindnessPendleton WardFind one kind action you can actually take.
Channel RockefellerJohn D. RockefellerOpen Ledger A. Find the drop of solder. Tithe before anything else. Move generously, execute ruthlessly.
Ledger A DisciplineJohn D. RockefellerTrack every penny. Find your drop of solder. Tithe before anything else.
Crisis as OpportunityJohn D. RockefellerBuy when blood runs in the streets. Pre-commit your buy list. Move generously, execute ruthlessly.
Channel FranklinBenjamin FranklinTrack behavior, not intent. Build structures, not just resolutions. Persuade through charm. Make the project useful.
13 Virtues SystemBenjamin FranklinOne virtue per week, on rotation. Mark every failure. Run 4 cycles a year.
Build a JuntoBenjamin Franklin12 people, Friday evenings, fixed agenda, one tangible artifact. Compounds for life.
Channel ElonElon MuskQuestion every requirement. Decompose to first principles. Run the five-step algorithm in order. Apply schedule pressure. The best part is no part.
First-Principles ReasoningElon MuskDecompose to physics, materials, and hours. Compute the irreducible floor. Attack the process around the constraint.
Five-Step AlgorithmElon MuskQuestion, delete, simplify, accelerate, automate, in that order. The order is the algorithm.
The Idiot IndexElon MuskFinished cost / raw material cost. Above 10x means you are paying for inefficiency, not value.
Channel AlexanderAlexander the GreatLead from the front. Concentrate at the decisive point. Strike before they react. Refuse the diversion. Magnanimous in victory, ruthless about the line.
Lead From the FrontAlexander the GreatShare the privation you ask of your team. Find your helmet-of-water gesture. Be wounded in their direction.
Concentrate at the Decisive PointAlexander the GreatList every front. Identify the one whose win makes the rest moot. Concentrate force. Strike before they react. Refuse the diversion.
Channel DeutschDavid DeutschExamine the question's hidden assumptions. Test explanations by trying to vary them. Reject 'just so' stories. Apply the Principle of Optimism.
Hard-to-Vary ExplanationsDavid DeutschA good explanation is hard to vary while still accounting for what it explains. Test every detail by trying to swap it.
The Principle of OptimismDavid DeutschAll evils are caused by insufficient knowledge. All problems are soluble unless forbidden by physics.
Channel Lee Kuan YewLee Kuan YewStrip ideology. Run small reversible experiments. Steal what works. Pay competitively AND prosecute without exception. Think in decades.
The Pragmatist TestLee Kuan YewStrip ideology. Ask only: does it work? Define 'works' with measurable specificity. Kill what isn't producing.
The Incorruptibility LockLee Kuan YewPay competitively AND prosecute without exception. One lock without the other fails.
Channel Marcus AureliusMarcus AureliusApply the dichotomy of control. Take the view from above. Hold mortality close. The body is not you. Premeditate the friction of the day.
The Dichotomy of ControlMarcus AureliusSplit the situation into what's up to you (judgments, intentions, responses) and what isn't (everything else). Withdraw your peace from the second pile.
The View From AboveMarcus AureliusZoom out to the scale of a life, a species, an age: until the emergency is one dot in a vast ordered thing.
Memento Mori as a Priority FilterMarcus AureliusIf I might be dead by evening, does this still deserve this much of me? Most grievances don't survive the question.
Channel Marc AndreessenMarc AndreessenSoftware is eating the world. It's time to build. Read the wave you're in and push faster.
Software Eats the WorldMarc AndreessenIdentify the industries where the durable winner will be a software company. The incumbents' advantages are in the wrong currency.
It's Time to BuildMarc AndreessenReplace “what's wrong” with “what do we build to fix it, and what is stopping the build?” Bias to action against analysis paralysis.
Techno-Optimism as an Operating PhilosophyMarc AndreessenTreat capability as the goal. Distrust framings that lower capability under the pretense of safety. Pessimism is fashionable and almost always wrong about technology over a 10-year window.
Channel Adam NeumannAdam NeumannMission compresses the round. Tribe before scale. Make the feeling of the product as carefully as the function. Watch unit economics or the story turns on you.
Mission as MoatAdam NeumannA commodity product wrapped in a real mission becomes a brand. The framing is the moat. Anti-pattern: a fake mission wrapped in marketing gloss is not.
Narrative Arbitrage in FundraisingAdam NeumannStory compresses the round, a great narrative does the work a hundred meetings would. Anti-pattern: every dollar raised on narrative carries an IOU to the next round. If economics don't catch up, the lever you pulled becomes the lever pulled on you.
The S-1 Reality CheckAdam NeumannRun the test on your company today: if a stranger had to read your numbers in an S-1, would the story survive? Public reading is a different lens than private storytelling.
Channel SenecaLucius Annaeus SenecaTime is the one currency you cannot earn back. Anger is a brief madness, delay is the cure. Withdraw to find yourself. Recover the time you call lost. Begin at once to live.
On the Shortness of LifeLucius Annaeus SenecaLife is long enough if well invested. We make it short by selling it cheaply, hour by hour, to projects we have not chosen. Audit the hours.
Letters from a Stoic: Daily PracticeLucius Annaeus SenecaOne letter a day to yourself: pick one idea, work it out in writing, and end with what you will actually do about it. The Stoic technology Seneca used for three years on Lucilius works on you.
On Anger, The Cool PathLucius Annaeus SenecaAnger is brief madness. The best remedy is delay. Beg yourself this favor: do not execute what your anger urges. Do something else first.
Ricky GervaisRicky GervaisFind the funny in the true, commit to the character, and take the hit for a joke you'd make again.
Stand-Up WritingRicky GervaisWrite stand-up from honest observation: premise, act-out, tag, tested live.
The Offence Principle: Writing Taboo & Handling OffenceRicky GervaisOffence is the collateral damage of free speech, so the question is never whether it offends, but what the joke is actually about and what it actually attacks.
Cringe & Character: The David Brent MethodRicky GervaisMake them laugh at someone they love, comedy from the gap between how a character sees themselves and how the world sees them.
Marie CurieMarie CurieUnderstand rather than fear: measure it, grind it, weigh it, give it away.
The Isolation MethodMarie CurieTurn an intractable question into a relentless, well-instrumented physical process, and grind it, measuring every batch, until the thing is in your hand and can be weighed.
Nothing to Be FearedMarie CurieConvert fear into understanding, then into the next small step.
Science, Not SelfMarie CurieKeep ego, credit, and money from corrupting the work: optimize for the truth, not your standing.
Channel Bob MarleyBob MarleyTurn suffering into a reason to show up. Free your own mind first. Stand up for what's right now, not someday. Answer division with one love, not revenge. Give your one gift to something bigger. Meet hardship with faith, not bitterness.
Redemption Song, Free Your Own MindBob MarleyEmancipate yourself from mental slavery. The first prison to break is the one in your own head. Name the mental chain, find whose voice it really is, reject the borrowed definition, and choose your own ground.
Get Up, Stand Up: Act NowBob MarleyStand up for what's right, and act now: not someday, not when it's safe, not when someone else moves first. Name the wrong, refuse the 'someday,' use the gift you already have, and take the first public step today.
One Love: Unity Over RevengeBob MarleyAnswer division with the one thing you still share, not with revenge. Take retaliation off the table, find the shared ground, make the first gesture, hold both the wrong and the unity, and build a together that lasts.
Build From Your Own AxiomsTobi LütkeRederive a company, product, or decision from your own axioms instead of copying an industry playbook.
One Thing WellTodd GravesDo one thing better than anyone alive, keep control of it, and let service pull the money in behind you.
Missionary, Not MercenaryJohn MackeyBuild for the mission, refuse the price war, compound in a niche nobody is watching, and turn rivals into allies.
Empathy at ScaleJimmy IovineMarketing is empathy at scale. Attach yourself to the very best people, then earn the room by telling them the brutal truth.
Impact Over HappinessDaniel EkAim at the biggest problem worth a decade of your life. Happiness is the readout, not the lever.
Hard to CopyEvan SpiegelThere is no moat in software, so invest only in what a competitor cannot clone in a quarter.
Dogged IterationJames DysonOut-persist the problem instead of trying to out-think it: one variable per prototype, every failure logged as a fact.
Mission Simplifies the Hardest CallsBrian ArmstrongWrite the long-term mission down explicitly, then use it to collapse decisions that look impossible, backed by the founder's calm of knowing you could rebuild from zero.
Via Negativa: Remove the Ruin Before You Add AnythingNassim Nicholas TalebStop asking what to add. Find the exposure that can end you, close it, subtract everything else that is quietly harming you, then barbell what is left so the downside is capped and the upside stays open.
Pain Plus ReflectionRay DalioTurn your worst recent mistake into a written principle you can reuse, the way Dalio turned 1982 into a system.
The Four StrandsDavid DeutschQuantum physics, epistemology, evolution, and computation are one theory, not four.
Channel VervaekeJohn VervaekeWork out which of the four kinds of knowing your problem actually lives in, then train what becomes salient rather than trying harder.
The Four Kinds of KnowingJohn VervaekePropositional, procedural, perspectival, participatory. Naming which one a problem lives in explains why the advice you were given does not work.
Relevance RealizationJohn VervaekeYou cannot check every option and no rule tells you which rules to use. What you notice is a trainable process, not a fixed fact about you.
Build an Ecology of PracticesJohn VervaekeEvery practice has a failure mode. Choose a small set that correct each other rather than one technique you hope is sufficient.
The Buffett Owner's LensWarren BuffettTurn a business or capital decision into owner economics, opportunity cost, downside protection, and a clear action.
Owner EarningsWarren BuffettConvert reported accounting results into the cash an owner can take out without weakening the business.
Circle of CompetenceWarren BuffettDraw the boundary between what can be evaluated, what must be learned, and what should simply be passed.
The Retained Earnings TestWarren BuffettMake every retained dollar compete against distribution and the best alternative use of capital.
Build a Financial FortressWarren BuffettStress obligations, counterparties, and liquidity so no ordinary shock can force a permanent loss.
The Berkshire Acquisition FilterWarren BuffettScreen an acquisition for understandable economics, durable advantage, trustworthy management, price, financing, and fit before deal momentum takes over.
The Munger Rationality ChecklistCharlie MungerInvert the problem, remove ruin, follow incentives, use several mental models, and compare the best alternatives.
Invert the ProblemCharlie MungerSolve forward by first identifying the conditions that guarantee failure and systematically avoiding them.
Incentive AuditCharlie MungerPredict behavior by mapping what the system rewards, punishes, measures, and allows people to rationalize.
Lollapalooza Bias CheckCharlie MungerDetect when several ordinary psychological tendencies combine to produce an extreme and irrational result.
The Berkshire SystemCharlie MungerDesign a low-bureaucracy organization where autonomy, trust, capital discipline, and reputation reinforce one another.
Deserved TrustCharlie MungerBuild relationships and systems by becoming the kind of partner whose promises, incentives, and conduct deserve trust.
Judge the Decision, Not the OutcomeNassim Nicholas TalebScore choices by the full spread of histories they could have produced, not the one that happened to occur.
Count the Monkeys Before You Trust a Track RecordNassim Nicholas TalebA great track record only means something once you know how many others tried and quietly failed.
Match Your Observation Window to Your Real Signal to Noise RatioNassim Nicholas TalebHow often you check a number determines how much noise you mistake for meaning.
Weight the Magnitude, Not Just the OddsNassim Nicholas TalebA bet is not bullish or bearish, it is a probability times a payoff; compute the second number, not just the first.
Distrust the Track Record That Fits the Current Regime Too WellNassim Nicholas TalebThe best performer in any given market moment is often just the trait that matched this cycle, not the most skilled.
Set Your Falsification Point Before You ActNassim Nicholas TalebDecide in advance what evidence would prove you wrong, and use data only to reject ideas, never to confirm them.
The Black Swan Triplet TestNassim Nicholas TalebBefore you call something a Black Swan or claim you saw it coming, run the event through the three tests that actually define one: rarity, extreme impact, retrospective predictability.
Mediocristan or ExtremistanNassim Nicholas TalebClassify the domain you are measuring before you trust an average, a sample size, or a track record, because the two provinces of randomness obey opposite rules.
The Turkey ProblemNassim Nicholas TalebTreat a long, comfortable track record as a warning sign, not a guarantee, because the turkey's confidence peaks the day before its confidence is proven wrong.
Guard Against the Narrative FallacyNassim Nicholas TalebNotice the moment a sequence of facts gets welded into a tidy cause and effect story, because the story always feels more true than the facts alone, and that feeling is the danger.
The Silent Evidence AuditNassim Nicholas TalebBefore you learn a lesson from a success story or a track record, go find the graveyard of people who did the exact same thing and are not around to tell you about it.
The Ludic Fallacy CheckNassim Nicholas TalebBefore you trust a probability, a model, or a game-derived intuition about risk, check whether real life actually shares the closed, known rules of the game you learned it from.
The Fourth Quadrant MapNassim Nicholas TalebSort any risky decision by two questions, is the payoff simple or open-ended, and does this domain allow extreme outcomes, then apply the specific set of rules that survive the one dangerous quadrant.
Don't Tell Me What You Think, Tell Me What's in Your PortfolioNassim Nicholas TalebBefore you act on anyone's opinion (including your own), find out what they actually have exposed to it, because unexposed advice is a sales pitch wearing the costume of counsel.
The Minority Rule: How a Stubborn Few Set the Terms for EveryoneNassim Nicholas TalebFind the smallest, most inflexible group in a market or population, because a rigid minority as small as three or four percent can force the flexible majority to conform to it, not the other way around.
The Intellectual Yet Idiot CheckNassim Nicholas TalebBefore you follow someone's confident advice about how you should live, eat, vote, or run your business, check whether they have ever had to survive the consequences of being wrong about it.
The Skin of Others AuditNassim Nicholas TalebBefore you trust someone's public stance, or take one yourself, map out who else's downside is riding on it (a mortgage, a child's tuition, an employer, a reputation), because that hidden leverage predicts when the stance will bend.
The Green Lumber Test for Hiring and Trusting ExpertsNassim Nicholas TalebWhen vetting an expert, trader, or consultant, weight their track record under real consequences over how polished, credentialed, or articulate they sound, because the skills that produce results and the skills that produce a convincing presentation are usually different skills.
The Merchandising of Virtue TestNassim Nicholas TalebBefore you credit, or claim, a virtuous stance, check whether it actually costs the holder something, because virtue that is free to hold and advertises itself is a status purchase, not virtue.
The Problem-Solving CycleDavid DeutschA problem is not solved by piling up data, it is solved by conjecturing rival explanations and letting criticism eliminate the weak ones.
The Kicked Rock TestDavid DeutschTreat something as real when denying it costs more complexity than accepting it, and refute a doctrine by following it all the way to its own conclusion.
Build the Universal VersionDavid DeutschA rule built for the whole class of a situation keeps working on cases you have not met yet. A rule built for one case has to be rebuilt every time.
The Certainty AuditDavid DeutschA proof is a physical process resting on an assumption, not a separate category of truth above ordinary explanation.
The Seminar Room RuleDavid DeutschIn a real critical tradition rank is not an allowed rebuttal, and everyone present knows exactly when that rule is and is not in effect.
The Jump to UniversalityDavid DeutschA narrow tool built for specific cases can gain unlimited reach through one small rule change. Look for the arbitrary limit you can remove.
Who The Replicator Actually ServesDavid DeutschSelection favors whatever spreads best, not whatever is good for you. Ask who benefits before you keep feeding it.
Spotting Bad PhilosophyDavid DeutschBad philosophy is not just wrong, it is built to make the next question illegitimate. Test any claim by asking what happens when you keep asking why.
A Choice Is An Explanation, Not A WeighingDavid DeutschWhen every option on the table looks bad, that is a sign your explanation is missing, not a signal to compute harder among bad options.
Rational Versus Anti-Rational MemesDavid DeutschA belief that survives scrutiny is a rational meme. A belief that survives by disabling scrutiny is an anti-rational one. Test which kind you are holding.
Build Problem-Solving Capacity, Not A Sustainable Steady StateDavid DeutschEvery closed, fixed plan meets an unforeseen problem eventually. Judge a plan by how well it can create new solutions, not by whether it claims to need none.
The Senra ReadingDavid SenraRun a decision through the same four tests Senra runs on every founder he studies: primary sources, belief before ability, control over money, and money as a byproduct of service.
Read the Primary Source FirstDavid SenraBefore trusting what anyone says about a person's methods, including a summary like this one, go to their own letters, autobiography, or collected words first.
Belief Before AbilityDavid SenraCheck whether conviction showed up before any evidence justified it. That order, not talent, is what actually predicts who builds the thing.
Control and Creation, Not MoneyDavid SenraLook at what a founder refuses to sell, not what they say they want. Control of the thing they are building predicts their choices better than a stated price ever will.
Money Follows ServiceDavid SenraAim at the service, not the money. Across every industry Senra has studied, from oil to streaming to fried chicken, the founders who chased money directly did worse than the ones treating it as the byproduct of a job done well.
Reread the Source You Already TrustDavid SenraA book, a mentor, or a body of work you have already learned from once still has more in it. Go back to it from your current problem instead of searching for something new.
The Sivers FilterDerek SiversRun a decision, an idea, or a belief through the same short tests Sivers built out of founding and selling CD Baby: is it a hell yeah, is it actually useful, and have you executed on it at all.
Hell Yeah or NoDerek SiversIf the honest answer to a decision is not a hell yeah, the answer is no. Most overcommitment comes from saying yes out of fear, not desire.
Obvious to You, Amazing to OthersDerek SiversYou are a bad judge of your own ideas, because what you already know feels too obvious to be worth saying. Put it out and let other people decide.
Ideas Are Just a Multiplier of ExecutionDerek SiversA brilliant idea with no execution is worth nothing. Build to solve your own problem first, and let the next problem, not a plan, decide what you build next.
Hold the ContradictionDerek SiversTwo fully opposite ways of living can both be true. Argue each side completely on its own terms instead of collapsing into one rule too early.
Earn What Can't Be GivenDerek SiversMastery is the one goal the rich cannot buy, the impatient cannot rush, and the privileged cannot inherit. Aim at it specifically because nobody can hand it to you.
Useful, Not TrueDerek SiversAsk whether a belief is useful to hold right now, not whether it is objectively true. Treat beliefs as tools you pick up and put down, not as claims you must defend.
The Friendly Ambitious Nerd MethodVisakan VeerasamyGive the smart, striving, slightly awkward part of yourself permission to want things out loud, and treat writing about it, unedited, as a real way of figuring yourself out.
Greatness Is DevianceVisakan VeerasamyNobody does something nobody else can yet see without passing through cringe. If you want to do something great, you have to behave differently than most people first.
Word MagicVisakan VeerasamyWrite to figure yourself out, not to perform an already finished thought. Experiment with the phrasing until you find the handful of words that actually carry weight.
Write for the Outliers, Not Most PeopleVisakan VeerasamyAim at the 0.1 percent outliers in optimism, thoughtfulness, and drive, not the average reader. Optimizing for the median produces nothing worth reading or becoming.
Claim the IdentityVisakan VeerasamyName the identity you have been living without permission to claim. A named identity, like friendly ambitious nerd, gives you somewhere to stand instead of feeling alone in a contradiction.
Brad Jacobs for this projectBrad JacobsApply cited public principles to a live decision, with constraints, a counterargument and one test.
Screen the opportunityBrad JacobsAn editorial diligence screen: test the operating advantage and the downside before committing.
The First 100 DaysBrad JacobsAn editorial integration plan with owners, customer safeguards, baseline measures and staged changes.
The Resignation TestBrad JacobsUse a gut reaction to identify questions, then investigate performance and role fit before deciding.
Channel Paul GrahamPaul GrahamGet out of startup theater and back to users, product, maker time, and the smallest test that can teach you something real.
Do Things That Don't ScalePaul GrahamReplace abstract growth planning with manual recruiting, close observation, and an unusually attentive first-user experience.
Default AlivePaul GrahamUse current cash, burn, and growth to determine whether the company reaches profitability before the bank balance reaches zero.
Protect the Maker SchedulePaul GrahamCluster coordination and recover the uninterrupted blocks required to hold a large creative problem in your head.
Find the Great-Work ProjectPaul GrahamMove from vague ambition to a field, its frontier, an interesting gap, and one project that creates feedback this week.
Roll the callsAri EmanuelRegular purposeful conversations can surface opportunities that a fixed plan would miss.
Report before opiningJeremy SternThe episode connects the craft of writing with close attention to ambitious people and their identities.
Compound an existing businessAlexander TaubmanThe episode considers long-term compounding and using AI to improve established businesses.
Build from lived tasteRonnie FiegThe episode traces a durable brand to a long-standing personal interest in the product.
Protect the brand from bureaucracyPeter RahalThe episode connects brand building with organizational complexity and control over a supplier.
Build an operator edgeLuca FerrariBuild a durable acquisition machine by making the operator, not the deal, the source of the edge: centralize talent selection as a science, strip out complexity and titles relentlessly, and let a shared technology platform make every new acquisition cheaper to transform than the last.
Embed with the customerMati StaniszewskiWin by staying obsessively focused on one research advantage, embedding engineers with customers to learn and reinvest that knowledge back into the product, and refusing to sell the company so the mission stays intact.
Resolve the growth constraintZach DellWin a commodity business by refusing to sell the product, owning the hardware as a service instead, vertically integrating only as fast as scale demands, and organizing the whole company around resolving one constraint at a time.
Test the founder convictionDoug LeoneDominate across eras by resetting to beginner, reserving capital for extreme outliers, preserving the founder as the company's soul, and making trust accelerate hard decisions.
Map the manufacturing bottleneckTorsten ReilBuild for deterrence, not combat: mass-produce simple hardware, push the intelligence into software, and let founder conviction (not available capital) set the ceiling on ambition.
Test a non-consensus betSam AltmanChase the non-consensus bet that pays off huge if right, ship the embarrassing version to get real feedback, and treat killing good ideas for great ones as the actual discipline of running a company.
Turn obsession into a processTravis KalanickGrowth only holds if your capacity to solve problems stays ahead of your capacity to create them, and real excellence means pushing through pain rather than getting comfortable enough to stop noticing it.
Go direct with evidenceLulu Cheng MeserveyA founder building something unproven cannot rent their story to a media filter; they must go direct, distill the idea into something unfakeable, and put the human story in the foreground with the technology ambient in the background.
Compound your frame of referenceMichael OvitzYour edge is frame of reference, a lifetime of meetings and outcomes; compound it with integrity, follow-up, and refusing to fail.
Play the long relationship gameMicky MalkaPlay the infinite game: refuse labels, measure yourself as ahead or behind rather than winning or losing, and let decades of compounding relationships and reputation do the work that no single deal ever could.
Design for independenceDavid Heinemeier HanssonDistrust your own ability to handle unlimited resources responsibly: embrace constraints, keep old products running forever for customers who never asked for change, and structure the business so nobody, investor, board, or mob, gets to tell you what to do.
Design for the return visitJeff ZalaznickTake something people already love, elevate the ingredients and craft without changing what it fundamentally is, and build a complete story around it so that the customer's decision to return, not their first visit, becomes the real measure of success.
Measure customer savingsEric GlymanInvert your industry: help customers spend less money and time, not more, and run every process through question, simplify, then automate.
Test the technical wedgeJonathan RossFaster inference makes AI models smarter, and leaders move faster by declaring intent rather than asking opinions and inviting pessimism.
Concentrate the first-principles betScott WuA startup has no right to win except by a concentrated first-principles bet on the future, run like hell, and a refusal to sell.
Give creators customer ownershipSteve StouteRun toward the unknown when it beats the known, and give creators ownership: if artists knew their fans, they wouldn't need a label.
Separate candor from authorityEd CatmullPut the problem, never who's right, at the center: candor works only when you strip authority from feedback and manage the room's dynamics.
Test what incumbents will not doGustav SöderströmOptimize for time well spent: prioritize the user over engagement metrics, and be great at the one thing that matters, average at the rest.
Choose your own success criteriaIvanka TrumpKnow who you are before you build; a life and company authentic to you escapes competition and is the least replicable thing you can make.
Protect the essential magicRick RubinStrip a work down until only its essential magic remains, then protect that fragile moment instead of thinking it to death.
Serve the creative talentStrauss ZelnickSustained success comes from being rational over decades and serving creative talent, hits are unexpected and can't be manufactured.
Own the content and storyDana WhiteOwn your content and its story, keep no Plan B, and let loyalty, not middlemen, build the empire.
Prove customer economicsAdam ForoughiRuthless efficiency, a few A-players plus a product that makes customers measurably richer, beats VC money, headcount, and a sales force.
Enable participant creationDavid BaszuckiBuild a perpetual motion machine: a closed-loop system where users become creators and an owned economy compounds virally for decades.
Invest in what is hard to copyEvan SpiegelNo moat exists in software, so invest only in what is hard to copy, network effects, owned hardware, and a clear product vision.
Find the data you cannot seeTony XuThe data you can't see is what kills you: do the work yourself, run relentless experiments, and control what you can control.
Audit the first-principles storyEric JorgensonAttack problems the future needs solved, reason from first principles, and treat time as the only true currency.
Test the malleable assumptionMarc AndreessenThe world is far more malleable than it looks, determined founders thinking from first principles can bend reality to their will.
Use mission to resolve a forkBrian ArmstrongA long-term mission simplifies the hardest calls, even suing your regulator, and a founder's edge is knowing he could rebuild from scratch.
Compete with your own costsJason FriedYour only competition is your costs: keep them low enough that a few customers are enough, and stay independent.
Practice marketing empathyJimmy IovineMarketing is empathy at scale; win by attaching yourself to the very best people and telling them the brutal truth.
Replace cosplay with axiomsTobi LütkeDon't cosplay orthodoxy, build from your own axioms and intuition; differentiation, not imitation, is the only path to excellence.
Compete in your own nicheJohn MackeyBuild as a missionary, not a mercenary, never fight the low-cost rival on price, compound in your niche, and turn competitors into allies.
Back talent before consensusPatrick O'ShaughnessyBetting on talented people before the world does is the highest-return act; grow without goals and run on clean fuel, not resentment.
Learn from the failed prototypeJames DysonProgress comes from doggedness, not cleverness, treat failure as the most interesting teacher and iterate relentlessly until it works.
Do one thing exceptionally wellTodd GravesDo one thing better than anyone and keep control of your baby; the distracted never beat the focused, and money follows service.
Match the trend to a playbookBrad JacobsTreat problems as opportunities, get the major trend right, hire people smarter than you, and repeat one disciplined playbook everywhere.
Find the structural cost edgeMichael DellTake things apart until you understand them: curiosity finds the structural cost edge, and belief comes before ability.
Work backward from impactDaniel EkOptimize for impact over happiness; happiness is a trailing indicator of impact, and greatness requires building a company true to yourself.

Install in Claude Code

One plugin per guide

/plugin marketplace add adamtpang/summon.guide
/plugin install elon

Swap elon for any guide. Then run a skill by its command, such as /elon:first-principles.