1. Identifying your "one thing"

It can be challenging to actually identify your " one thing ".

But it can help to consider this concept less as a single destination, and more as a direction .

It reminds me of a popular analogy: "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time ".

Imagine an alternative universe, where you'd never heard of Netflix.

(The fantasy element is important, as their brand awareness changes your perception.)

You could argue that their " one thing " is to get the user to watch a show .

But, before they can watch something, they need to find something to watch , right?

But people have never heard of your app, and so first they need to be confident that it's worth them investing their time to browse your library .

i.e., to know that there's a good chance they'll be able to find something they like.

And so, if I was building Netflix from scratch, the most important thing would be to quickly demonstrate that you've got a large library of shows, with broad appeal.

Or, very niche appeal, if you know what they're interested in.

They shouldn't funnel you straight into watching the first show you see— you might hate it .

You're not trying to get them to watch a show (well, not right now), you're trying to convince them that you have shows that they might be interested in .

It's a much lower commitment objective.

If you were trying to get someone to watch something, you'd limit the number of options because of 😳 Hicks Law . You'd show about 5.

But with this new framing, you'd want to increase the exposure of your titles. You'd show lots more . Maybe an entire feed of them.

Your "one thing" changes as you "zoom in". Keep zooming until you find it.

Peter Ramsey • How to Reduce Churn by Doing Your "One Thing"