Hi friends 👋,

It was inevitable that I’d write about Elon. He just won Time person of the year, he’s been on fire with memes, and is the worlds richest person (but really its Putin).

On my end I’m working out the details on a new partnership with a friends SaaS company. News on that once it’s settled.

Before we jump in, a quick thanks to the 108 of you that are subscribed! We had near 10% gain in subscribers (ya its only 8 new people but thats like 2 pizzas worth of people).

Id love if you shared this with a friend or if your new, subscribe because its free.

Elon’s 5 Step Framework - Founders journey #3

This week I got obsessed with implementing Elon Musks 5-Step Product Framework.

Elon Musk gets attention for:

• Fire Memes

• Wealth

• Taxes

• Trolling politicians

But HOW did he generate enormous wealth?

How does he create unicorn after unicorn?

He has a 5 step process for developing products

1. Make The Requirements Less Dumb 

Your requirements are definitely dumb. It’s particularly dangerous if a smart person gave them to you because you wont question them enough Everyone is wrong some of the time. Attach names to requirements for accountability

2. Try to Delete Part of the Process 

If you are not occasionally adding things back in….

You are not deleting enough.

People have a bias to add things for edge cases.

Forget covering every use case.

Run @ tight margins and don't hedge every bet MOVE

3. Simplify or Optimize 

Bane of a product managers existence.

Every smart engineer tries to optimize a thing that should not exist.

Dont get caught up in details of tech - think about the first principles of the problem

4. Accelerate Cycle Time

Go faster. Innovation = the pace at which you can improve.

When in a pinch for Tesla Model 3's, the team built an assembly line in the parking lot outside the factory using spare parts.

5. Automate

If you do this backwards you're screwed

Find parts you can automate.

Leverage your time.

Less is more.

Well, now it’s time to implement.

How do I plan on this?

Cross training my team on these concepts.

Leading based on these concepts.

Decision making using these concepts.

It wont be perfect but it’ll be better than what I’m currently doing.

Treat your workflows and schedules as their own products.

You should constantly be iterating!

Favorite Listens:

Molly Mae is a 22 year old influencer turned Creative Director. She talks about her rise to becoming a global influencer and how she spends her time. Kind of an insane story. Great lessons about focus.

Rahul Vohra, CEO of Superhuman, a DOPE email client gave the playbook on how to make B2B SaaS fun.

If you want to see how I think about product management check out my Product Management for Beginners course. It’s cheap and packed with a ton of videos.