Levers

1. Understand Your Customer Deeply Through W3

"Not just the unicorn-status kind of work. We mean work in the fundamental kind of way—where the company is solving real problems for customers and seeing repeatable, sustainable growth."

Customer Understanding Framework. The W3 approach requires entrepreneurs to deeply understand three critical questions about their customers: Who are they, What are they buying, and Why are they buying it. This isn't a one-time exercise but a continuous process of validation and refinement.

Key Components of W3:

• Identify the most specific customer profile possible
• Understand the actual value customers seek
• Recognize the underlying motivations driving purchases

Practical Application. By narrowing the customer definition to the most specific attributes, businesses can create targeted strategies that lead to higher conversion rates and more meaningful customer relationships. The goal is to be so precise that every conversation has a near-100% potential of resulting in a sale.

2. Create a Revenue Formula to Model Business Growth

"A revenue formula is the mathematical equation of your business."

Business as a Mathematical Model. A revenue formula transforms a business from an intuition-driven venture to a predictable, measurable system. It breaks down how the company generates revenue by identifying key drivers and their interactions.

Revenue Formula Components:

• Identify primary revenue streams
• Determine mathematical drivers of growth
• Create a dynamic model that can be tested and adjusted

Strategic Insight. By quantifying business drivers, entrepreneurs can:

• Predict future performance
• Understand which levers most impact revenue
• Make data-driven strategic decisions
• Reduce reliance on gut feelings

3. Prioritize Assumptions and Strategic Focus

"Great product development comes from having a culture of learning and validation."

Systematic Prioritization. Successful businesses don't waste resources on unvalidated ideas. Instead, they develop a structured approach to testing assumptions, focusing energy on high-impact initiatives that can fundamentally transform the business.

Prioritization Strategies:

• Identify core business assumptions
• Validate assumptions through targeted experiments
• Allocate resources based on potential impact
• Create a learning-focused organizational culture

Experimental Mindset. By treating business strategies as hypotheses to be tested, companies can rapidly iterate, reduce waste, and increase the likelihood of discovering truly transformative approaches.

4. Develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

"KPIs are decision-making tools. They are only useful to the degree that they help you decide what to actually do in your business."

Metrics as Business Language. Key Performance Indicators are more than just numbers; they're a communication system that translates business activities into actionable insights. The right KPIs provide clarity on progress and guide strategic decisions.

KPI Development Process:

• Identify the most critical business objective
• Select metrics that provide leading indicators
• Align team understanding around core measurements
• Create regular review and adjustment mechanisms

Continuous Learning. Effective KPI implementation requires ongoing refinement, ensuring the metrics remain relevant and drive meaningful business outcomes.

5. Build a Comprehensive Financial Model

"It's like having a crystal ball into the future."

Predictive Business Modeling. A financial model transforms complex business dynamics into a mathematical representation that allows entrepreneurs to simulate different scenarios and understand potential outcomes before committing resources.

Financial Modeling Benefits:

• Predict cash flow and resource requirements
• Test strategic scenarios with minimal risk
• Provide investors with confident, data-driven projections
• Create a dynamic tool for ongoing business management

Strategic Foresight. By treating the financial model as a living document that evolves with business learnings, entrepreneurs can develop increasingly accurate predictive capabilities.

6. Data-Driven Decision Making Over Gut Feelings

"Hope isn't a strategy. Your goal as a founder is to put as much in your own control as possible."

Empirical Business Management. Successful entrepreneurs replace intuition with systematic data collection and analysis. Every decision becomes an opportunity to gather insights and validate or challenge existing assumptions.

Decision-Making Principles:

• Collect data before making significant choices
• Design experiments to test critical hypotheses
• Create a culture that values evidence over opinion
• Develop mechanisms for rapid learning and adaptation

Organizational Learning. By embedding data-driven thinking into company culture, businesses can make more informed, lower-risk decisions.

7. Validate Hypotheses Through Continuous Learning

"If you don't have data, you only have hope."

Hypothesis-Driven Growth. Treat every business strategy as a testable hypothesis. This approach transforms uncertainty into a structured process of discovery and refinement.

Learning Strategies:

• Break large goals into smaller, testable assumptions
• Design rapid, low-cost experiments
• Create feedback loops for continuous improvement
• Celebrate learning as much as success

Experimental Mindset. By viewing business development as a series of hypotheses to be validated, companies can innovate more effectively and reduce wasted resources.

8. Create a Culture of Metrics and Experimentation

"Great companies often have great processes, but great processes do not make great companies."

Organizational Learning Culture. Beyond individual metrics, successful businesses develop systems that encourage continuous exploration, learning, and adaptation across all levels of the organization.

Cultural Development Techniques:

• Implement daily and weekly learning goals
• Encourage cross-functional knowledge sharing
• Reward curiosity and evidence-based decision making
• Create psychological safety for exploring new ideas

Systemic Innovation. By making experimentation a core organizational value, businesses can continuously evolve and stay ahead of market changes.

9. Balance Short-Term Tactics with Long-Term Vision

"Running a company can be one of the greatest experiences—and privileges—in life."

Strategic Perspective. Successful entrepreneurs maintain a dual focus: executing immediate tactics while maintaining a clear, inspiring long-term vision that guides decision-making.

Balancing Strategies:

• Develop clear milestone-based progression
• Create adaptable strategic roadmaps
• Maintain flexibility while preserving core objectives
• Align short-term actions with long-term goals

Visionary Execution. By connecting daily activities to broader aspirational goals, businesses can maintain motivation and strategic coherence.

10. Control Business Destiny Through Systematic Approach

"We want every entrepreneur to deeply understand how to move their business forward and then be free to build the world they imagine."

Entrepreneurial Empowerment. By developing systematic approaches to understanding customers, modeling revenue, prioritizing efforts, and making data-driven decisions, entrepreneurs can transform unpredictable ventures into controllable, scalable enterprises.

Systematic Business Building:

• Develop repeatable, transferable business frameworks
• Create transparency in business operations
• Build adaptable, learning-oriented organizational systems
• Maintain entrepreneurial agency and vision

Destiny Design. The ultimate goal is to provide entrepreneurs with tools and mindsets that allow them to build businesses aligned with their deepest aspirations.

Last updated: January 2, 2025