đź“‹ Priority System
"I highly recommend using lists. I make lists of what I want to accomplish each year, each month, and each day. Lists are very focusing…"
The Rule of Three: Only have 3 top priorities at any given time. Everything else is noise. If you can't identify your top 3, you're not focused enough. If you have more than 3, you're not prioritizing—you're procrastinating through false productivity.
The Algorithm (Apply Constantly)
1. Question every requirement
2. Delete any part of the process you can
3. Simplify and optimize
4. Accelerate cycle time
5. Automate
Key Rule: If you aren't adding back at least 10% of the things you deleted, then you didn't delete enough.
The CEO's Weekly Method
Every week, identify the single biggest bottleneck in your company. Parachute directly onto it—bypass middle management and go straight to the engineers who own the problem. Stay up with them until it's fixed. If there's no critical bottleneck that week, run engineering reviews where every engineer presents their work; promote or fire based on what you see. The people who matter are the engineers.
— From Marc Andreessen on "The Elon Method"
1
The mission comes first.
2
Retreat is not an option.
3
A maniacal sense of urgency is our operating principle.
4
Product design should be driven by engineers.
5
You should not separate engineering from product design.
6
Having separate design and production departments is bullshit. Keep everything together and feedback immediate.
7
The leader should be on the front lines. You should be a battlefield general.
8
"If they see the general out on the battlefield, the troops are going to be motivated. Wherever Napoleon was, that's where his armies would do best."
9
Apply The Algorithm constantly. (See above)
10
Repetition is persuasive. "I became a broken record on the algorithm. I think it's helpful to say it to an annoying degree."
11
You should go ultra-hardcore on deletion and simplification.
12
Camaraderie is dangerous. It makes it hard for people to challenge each other's work. (Refer to point #1)
13
Never ask your troops to do something you wouldn't do.
14
Hire for attitude. Skills can be taught. Attitude changes require a brain transplant.
15
Good attitude = A desire to work maniacally hard.
16
The only rules are the ones dictated by the laws of physics. Everything else is a recommendation.
17
Keep your entire company committed to a common goal.
18
If things aren't going well, throw away the existing design, start from first principles, question every requirement based on fundamental physics.
19
Find the limit. You want to delete as much as possible and you can't do that unless you find the limit.
20
If you aren't adding back at least 10% of the things you deleted, then you didn't delete enough.
21
Maintain control. Avoid joint ventures. Eliminate middlemen.
22
Have a relentless dedication to questioning every requirement.
23
No work about work, just work.
24
Go to the problem. Get on the plane. Fly to the source. Go to the exact location in the factory. Go to the problem and stay there until it's resolved.
25
The best part is no part.
27
Do not fear losing. It hurts the first 50 times but then you'll be able to play with less emotion. You will take more risks.
28
Stay heads down focused on doing useful things for civilization.
29
When something is important and has to be done quickly, have meetings every 24 hours to run the algorithm and check on the previous days progress. You'll be shocked at how fast this speeds things up.
30
Life needs to be interesting and edgy.
31
Delete, delete, delete, delete.
Core Philosophy
"Excellence is the capacity to take pain."
"Strategy is not words; strategy is action."
"The mission is the boss."
1
Character over intelligence. Greatness stems from overcoming adversity and developing perseverance, not innate intelligence.
2
Strategy is action. Leadership means ensuring employees execute the core mission, not crafting elaborate plans.
3
The mission is the boss. Organizations exist to serve a mission, not perpetuate themselves.
4
Refuse to be outworked. "There may be people smarter than me, but no one is ever going to work harder."
5
Speed of Light framework. Judge performance against theoretical maximum capability (physics constraints), not past performance or competitors.
6
Torture people into greatness. "I don't like giving up on people. I'd rather torture them into greatness." Quality of work matters more than employee feelings.
7
Seek conflict for better solutions. Conflict yields superior results. When handling opportunities well, you generate more opportunities.
8
Flat organizational structure. Minimizes slow decision-making, filters out low performers, enables faster information flow.
9
Public criticism for organizational learning. Criticizing mistakes publicly teaches the entire company simultaneously.
10
Whiteboard transparency. All communication uses whiteboards showing real-time thinking. Forces rigor and eliminates places to hide incomplete ideas.
11
Do what's natural and organic. "Working is relaxing for me." Sustainable excellence requires genuinely enjoying your work.
12
Top Five Things (T5T) emails. Every employee daily reports five priorities or market observations. Read 100+ daily to catch weak signals before management filters them.
13
Pilot in Command accountability. Assign single leaders directly accountable to the CEO for specific missions. Prevents team anonymity and diffused responsibility.
14
Choke you with gold. Overpay for top talent with special RSU grants given immediately rather than waiting for annual reviews.
15
Listen, Understand, Answer (LUA). Refocus rambling discussions on core questions. Increases signal-to-noise ratio in communication.
16
Complacency kills. Success breeds failure when organizations rest on achievements. Innovation isn't optional; it's mandatory survival.
17
Ship the whole cow. Package previously discarded hardware for new markets. Mitigates low-end competition and sidesteps the innovator's dilemma.
18
Create markets, not market share. "We would rather create the market." Focus on unique, irreplaceable work competitors cannot replicate.
19
Educate the marketplace. When introducing genuinely novel concepts, invest heavily in market education.
Additional Jensen Wisdom
60 Direct Reports: No traditional one-on-ones. "Your contribution should not be based on privileged access to information."
Reasoning Out Loud: "In every meeting I'm explaining how I think through the situation. When everybody hears the reasoning, that empowers people."
Pain & Suffering: "I wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering. Your pain will strengthen your character, resilience and agility."
First Principles: "If we don't build it, they can't come." Willingness to invest billions into unproven technology based on reasoned analysis.