My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
“focus is not what you say yes to focus is the 100 good ideas you say no to”
What It Means
True strategic focus comes from explicitly rejecting good opportunities, not just choosing priorities
Why It Matters
Most strategic failures come from doing too many things rather than too few
When It's True
When you have limited resources and many attractive opportunities
When It's Risky
When you're so early stage that you need to try many things to find what works
How to Apply
List reasonable opportunities you're explicitly not pursuing
Document why you're saying no to good ideas
Share the 'not doing' list with your team for alignment
Example Scenario
“E-commerce company lists 'not launching on Amazon this year' despite clear revenue opportunity, maintaining focus on their 6 core strategic bets.”
Related Knowledge
never trade what is precious for what is trivial
Don't exchange your valuable emotional resources for minor inconveniences
Values Must Acknowledge Trade-offs Framework
A principle that company values are only meaningful when they explicitly acknowledge what you're sacrificing or what dow
Big Bets Strategy Framework
A one-page strategy document that lists 6 specific bets for the year plus explicit non-bets to maintain focus
Validate if your newsletter subscribers are actually engaged readers
High reply rate (>10%) to personal outreach email from founder
Create viral dating events that solve app fatigue through in-person meetups
200-500 people attending regular events, partnership with dating apps, profitable event business
Collect and Store Good Phrases/Ideas for Later Use
Systematically collecting effective phrases, lines, and ideas from various sources to use in your own work later