FOCUS IS A SUPERPOWER

You have to prioritize until it hurts. Here are 5 principles that I try to follow when building products:

1. Do fewer things better.

I don’t believe in more than 1-3 P0 projects per quarter. Focus on solving the biggest user pain points that grow your business instead of trying to build everything at once. Saying “why don’t we just do both” or listing 5-10 priorities is a red flag.

2. Do the simple thing first.

Always ship the simplest thing that could work and avoid solving problems that don’t exist yet. For example, you probably shouldn’t optimize for scaling if your 0-1 product doesn’t have product market fit yet. Keep repeating this mantra to yourself and your team.

3. Validate your riskiest assumption first.

Every product has a few assumptions that, if wrong, will kill the whole idea. Validate these assumptions with real users using a simple prototype or A/B test. Don’t work on secondary features if your core hypothesis remains unproven.

4. Protect your calendar.

Your calendar decides what you actually work on and you can’t build good products if you don’t control your time and energy. I do deep work in the mornings when I have mental clarity and I’m ruthless about declining meetings that drain my energy.

5. Say no 10x more than you say yes.

Get comfortable saying no to features, meetings, and even user requests that don’t align with your highest impact work. Show empathy and explain your rationale clearly — the other party will usually understand.

For more, watch my 12 min video on 25 things I believe in to build great products: