Optimization vs Innovation
Better vs Different
Almost all advice you read is about how to optimize.
“Top 10 ad hooks!”
”Best landing page format”
”Best facebook account structure”
Optimization is required.
But it is like tracing an image.
It will never produce an improvement, it will always just degrade from the source.
Those top 10 ad hooks work until they dont.
And then what do you do?
Wait for another twitter thread to pop up?
Learning how to imitate is an important skill.
Its how we all get started.
But you will quickly hit a wall unless you learn how to innovate on top of it.
“Why did this work?” is 1000x more valuable than “what will work?”
And this is a great filter of entrepreneurship:
Can you create?
Everyone brags about working hard.
Every goddam thread is about some new tool you need to be successful.
Everyone says how “people are the most important thing”
All of those are givens.
You need to work hard, use tools, and have a good team.
Follow systems, best practices, tips, and tricks.
That will get you started, but you will not create something generational without innovation.
You can start an agency or a brand, hustle your ass off and hold it together with blood and sweat, but without the ability to create something unique, you are replaceable and fighting gravity.
My most asked question is:
”What does it take to get from 7 figures to 8?”
This is my answer.
You need to innovate.
A hard working dunce can follow the free advice on twitter and get to 7 figures.
But to get to the next level you need to be able to create something new.
Product, process, tool, or system.
You need SOMETHING that applies leverage to your business.
What is required to hit each stage:
7 figures- hard work
8 figures- hard work and innovation
9 figures- hard work, innovation, and process
10 figures- idk yet. Luck I would guess, but ask me in 2 years.
Why do people focus on optimization?
Cynically, its because you can sell optimization.
”You would be doing BETTER with MY software”
Critically, its because you can actually measure it.
You can see the numbers improve as you reach optimal perfection.
Honestly, its because “make something new that has never existed” is bad advice.
It is really hard to apply to anything and can take years.
But thats why it is special.
Optimization is important.
It is required. But it is table stakes.
Unoptimized entrepreneurs fail.
But uncreative entrepreneurs stall.
That’s the hard truth that sounds obvious only when said out loud: optimisation is not something that will catapult your business. If anything, it slows you down as you look inward. Rather than as you say, innovate - or look outward for that next new big lever.
Something I think you said before stuck with me “I’d rather a sloppy $100m biz vs an optimised $1m biz” and it’s true. Optimisation fools you into thinking you’re working “on” your business but it’s likely only as good as sanding down a chair you’ve built - when in reality you need to start building the table.