Book 1: Strategy
See the market clearly, choose the right customer, define the real problem, and stop lying to yourself.
The first book is about hard choices, not abstract ambition.
Chapters
Chapter 1
Why Be a Monster, and Not a Hero
I did not come to the idea of being a monster from literary theory. I came to it from failure.
Chapter 2
The Monster Hunts Truth While It Is Still Ugly
The early monster is ugly. It is awkward to explain. The offer is fuzzy. The product is incomplete. The positioning is soft. The promise is too broad or too weak. People do not fully unde...
Chapter 3
Strategy Is Choosing a Path, Not Wishing for the Destination
You have hunted truth. You have taken the ugly thing into the market and forced contact with reality. You have started to hear real signals — who cares, who does not, what lands, what fal...
Chapter 4
Purpose That Can Survive Reality
Purpose is not what you feel. It is not your mission statement, your values, or your founder story. Those might be sincere. They are not purpose in the sense that matters to building a re...
Chapter 5
The Customer You Can Actually Win
Most founders describe their customer wrong. They describe someone they wish existed, not someone they can actually find and win.
Chapter 6
The Problem Worth Building Around
I once built a company that tried to solve six problems at once. We had identified our customer — that part was clear. We had done the work of customer selection right. But when we got cl...