Balance

On one side, we have reason - the logical, analytical part of our brain that makes strategic decisions, plans for the future, and weighs the pros and cons before taking action. This is the part of us that painstakingly drafts business plans, conducts market research, and develops detailed roadmaps for our products.

On the other side, there is passion – the raw energy, intuition, and unbridled creativity that drives innovation and brings novel ideas to life. This is the part of us that's willing to work through the night to solve a problem, the part that gets a jolt of adrenaline when we hit upon a unique concept, the part that dreams big and isn't afraid to think outside the box.

These two forces may seem at odds, but in reality, they are the dual engines of any successful venture. Reason gives us the structure and plan, the clarity to know what needs to be done. Passion provides the energy, enthusiasm, and the ability to dream big and break new ground.

A venture led by reason alone might be all structure and no heart. It might lack the creativity and innovation necessary to stand out in a crowded market. Conversely, a venture driven solely by passion may be all energy and no direction - chaotic, unpredictable, and lacking the strategic thinking necessary for long-term success. Their Balance is where the technical knowledge of what's possible and the design knowledge of what's going to work for the user come together

So, how can we strike the right balance?

Problem First, Solution Last

It doesn’t make any sense to make a key and then run around looking for a lock to open. The only productive solution is to solve a problem that many people have. It's easier to make products and services for the customers you seek to serve than it is to find customers for your products and services.

What makes for a good problem?

Learn to think through problems backwards as well as forward. Reasoning from first principles allows us to step outside of history and conventional wisdom and see what is possible. When you really understand the principles at work, you can decide if the existing methods make sense. Often they don’t.

An element of the architecture of our world

A first principle is a foundational proposition or assumption that stands alone. We cannot deduce first principles from any other proposition or assumption.

Thinking from first principles gives you to tools to develop ways to measure the world for yourself.

Analogies can’t replace understanding. Analogies are beneficial; they make complex problems easier to communicate and increase understanding. Using them, however, is not without a cost. They limit our beliefs about what’s possible and allow people to argue without ever exposing our (faulty) thinking. Analogies move us to see the problem in the same way that someone else sees the problem.

The thoughts of others imprison us if we’re not thinking for ourselves. Reasoning by first principles removes the impurity of assumptions and conventions. What remains is the essentials - The essentials allow you to see where reasoning by analogy might lead you astray.

Your thinking gets better when you stop making assumptions and you stop letting others frame the problem for you.

Attention

The initial idea is just a starting point-- not a blueprint, but a question.

If an idea is a blueprint, it has to be right. But if it's a question, it can be wrong, so long as it's wrong in a way that leads to more ideas.

The economic environment isn’t static. Society’s moral compass changes over time. Political environments adapt to social norms and nation-states adopt more liberal laws. People in developing countries get richer. Small quantitative advances in technology adoption cross a threshold of critical mass and turn into qualitative changes.

Ideas get shaped in the process of exosing them to the world. You need that resistance, just as a carver needs the resistance of the wood.

There's nothing more valuable than an unmet need that is just becoming fixable. If you find something broken that you can fix for a lot of people, you've found a gold mine. As with an actual gold mine, you still have to work hard to get the gold out of it. But at least you know where the seam is, and that's the hard part.