Concentrate resources on 3-5 key bets rather than spreading thin across many initiatives
Bold ideas need bold resourcing. When resources are spread like peanut butter across many initiatives, impactful ideas don't receive what they need to thrive. Cutting even good ideas that aren't perishable, strategic, or differentiating allows you to go all-in on what matters most.
When to use
During planning cycles when deciding what to prioritize; when feeling pressure to pursue many opportunities simultaneously; when good ideas are competing for limited resources
Don't do this
Hedging by spreading resources across many bets to reduce risk—this often ensures that no single initiative gets enough resources to succeed
7 Founders Who Did This
Shifted from 10 to 100+ engineers on Facebook Live in one week by pausing all other projects, gathering the team to explain the data and opportunity
Slack's product team reviews roadmaps through a 70:20:10 lens to ensure diversified risk allocation across core optimization (70%), adjacent opportunities (20%), and moonshot bets (10%)
Killed all products except Salesforce backup despite having ServiceNow and other platforms ready. Said no to new ecosystem ideas constantly until crossing $100M ARR. When growing 100%+ annually in a single-digit penetrated market, extreme focus prevented dilution.
Drove 3,029 miles on a Think Week road trip in May 2020. Was running 2 businesses plus multiple side projects and earning under $10K/month. Realized spreading focus across many projects was the root cause of stagnation
Practices extreme selectivity - 'say nine no's for every yes' on feature development. Said no to expanding beyond frontend even when financially tempting to maintain focus
Spread resources across 400+ products and 50+ launches per year instead of concentrating on making a few products truly valuable
With $2B in funding, spread resources across 20+ acquisitions and full vertical integration instead of focusing on key opportunities