The "80/20 principle" for founders Traction: 80% distribution, 20% product Growth: 80% retention, 20% acquisition Revenue: 80% existing customers, 20% new leads Pricing experiments: 80% positioning tweaks, 20% actual price changes Brand building: 80% customer experience, 20% logo design Sales: 80% listening, 20% pitching Community building: 80% empowering users, 20% company-led initiatives Product: 80% core features, 20% nice-to-haves Time: 80% executing, 20% strategizing Insights: 80% user feedback, 20% user behavior Pricing: 80% value perception, 20% actual costs Marketing: 80% word-of-mouth, 20% paid ads User onboarding: 80% aha moments, 20% feature tutorials UI/UX: 80% intuitive flow, 20% aesthetic appeal Viral growth: 80% reducing friction, 20% incentivizing sharing Roadmap: 80% market pull, 20% vision push Team management: 80% context setting, 20% direct orders Customer interviews: 80% observing, 20% asking Market positioning: 80% owning a niche, 20% broad appeal Founder time: 80% working on the business, 20% in the business Prioritize the 80% that moves the needle. The rest is just noise.
Scott Belsky • What Is “Seeing the Matrix” for a Product Leader?
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(1) Make a list of the 10 things you spend the most time on.
(2) Circle the two that truly drive your results. Do more of those.
(3) Look at the others. Eliminate ruthlessly. Automate or outsource what you can. Press pause on the rest.
(4) Repeat.”
James Clear • 3-2-1: The 80/20 Principle, mastery, and the importance of asking questions
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Substack • Shreyas Doshi on pre-mortems, the LNO framework, the three levels of product work, why most execution problems are strategy problems, and ROI vs. opportunity cost thinking
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