3 Messages
Here are my top 3 key takeaways from the book, “The Minimalist Entrepreneur” by Sahil Lavingia.
- There are thousands of “creator first, entrepreneur second”
- MVP(manual valuable process): As you fulfill the first customer cycle, document each part of the process so that with every consecutive customer you have a playbook. This will be the foundation for the business you’re trying to build. Refine this before building a minimum viable product. (Author calls it ”Processizing”).
- Instead of trying to change the world, try to change the community: It’s the community that leads you to the problem, which leads to the product, which leads you to your business
Others
The following are the ones that didn’t make it to my top 3.
- Building a minimalist business does not mean settling for second best, it’s about creating sustainable companies that have the flexibility to take risks to serve the greater good.
- Minimalist Entrepreneur; Making a difference while making a living
- Narrow down who your ideal customer is. Define precisely what pain point you are solving for them, and how much they will pay you. Set a hard deadline and focus fully on building a solution.
- Minimalist Entrepreneurs focus on getting profitable at all costs, instead of growing at all costs.
- 1% rule. 1% create, 9% contribute, 90% consume
- 4 different types of utility: Place/Form/Time/Possession
- Start a business, literally any business. You will soon realize how bad every existing tool is that you have to pay for to run that business.
- Four questions every time I want to build something new. Can I ship it on a weekend? (Prototyped in two to three days.) Is it making my customers’ lives a little better? Can I get feedback quickly? Is my customer willing to pay me for it?
- Outsource everything
- If you rely on VCs for capital, you rely on outside forces to be successful.
- The future of Entrepreneurship is the future of humanity.
