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independence4 unconnected · 3 more authors in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

16 claims · 15 articles · 4 receipts

window

2022-03-01 → 2025-07-21

4 builders who never spoke to each other

Inventory the advantages you already hold

List what you actually bring under named headings, money, skills, network, reputation, standing in one industry, then pick the opportunity that draws on the most of them at once. The differentiation usually sits in the overlap of several above-average competencies rather than in being best at any one.

The method

  1. 01

    Inventory your unfair advantages under named headings before you choose what to build: money, insights, interests, skills, location and language, network, status, and self-image.

  2. 02

    Pick the idea that lets you draw on the greatest number of your own advantages at once, not the one that merely looks plausible on paper.

  3. 03

    Inventory the advantages you've already accumulated - skills, capital, insight, expertise, time in the market, connections - and deploy all of them at once rather than starting from scratch.

  4. 04

    Inventory the unfair advantages you can stack in a category, search skills, an existing personal following, family money, comfort on the phone, sheer energy, or a reputation already built there, and choose a market where you have several.

  5. 05

    Select the hard problem where you already hold an edge, stacking your skills, contacts, reputation and enthusiasm behind one choice.

What it returned

  • 47

    Muska restarted at 47 with no money but with fans plus connections to artists, influencers, podcasters, manufacturers and other pro skaters; cited research explains why founders tend to succeed in their forties.

  • Under network he asks whether you can reach decision makers in an industry directly, whether you know anyone with a large audience who would help you get going, and whether you already have customers you can call.

  • Scott Harrison could have built software for tattoo artists off a couple of contacts from the New York club scene. The charity he started instead used his wealthy network, his event skills, his city and his self-image all at the same time.

  • Scott Adams is his example: a decent illustrator, a decent humorist, and someone who worked in tech, in the top quarter at each rather than the best at any.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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More in positioning

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.