Want to start your company in a market and wondering how to get started?

Use these foundational principles to identify where the gaps are.

If within a small specific category, you notice a gap where the current incumbents aren’t following any of these 5 principles, you will have an edge when you launch your product/ offering.

In my perspective, these are the 5 evergreen first-principles that are going to hold up true no matter which decade you do business in. The same have been foundational to companies like Costco (founded in 1983) to Amazon (founded in 1994).

1. Low prices

   1. Most customers love the feeling of getting a deal. Ex: Amazon offers low prices across the spectrum. Same with Costco.

2. Vast selection

   1. Customers will always appreciate having a wide range of choices. Netflix has millions of movies and TV shows. Youtube’s strength is that there are billions of videos to pick from. Same with Amazon which has lots of listings.

3. High quality

   1. Customers will always appreciate high quality products and are even willing to pay more for the craft/ effort. Think Audi / BMW cars vs just Toyotas.

4. Faster (better) convenience

   1. There will never be a decade where customers would say “I’d want to get this product delivered to me .. slower”

   2. Ex: Doordash. UberEats, Amazon Prime delivery … customer love speed.

5. Status/ Exclusivity

   1. Many customers love feeling special and high status. Business offerings that leverage this are Amex Platinum Card, Delta First Class tickets etc. Price becomes no issue with status and exclusive offerings.

In the same vein, if you want to create content that resonates with people, there are some first-principles there too.

Are you ready?

Here are 5 first-principles I’ve observed when it comes to CONTENT:

1. Make people feel something

   1. Your content must unlock an emotion in the consumer’s mind: Ex: “inspired”, “heard/seen”, “disgusted/annoyed”, “upset”, “informed and smart”, “virtuous”)

2. Make it as low friction as possible

   • We’re in an attention dwindling era so make sure your content adapts to this reality

   • Create open loops at the start of your piece (to invoke curiosity and make them finish it to get the answer)

   • Keep the language simple language to reduce cognitive load

   • Ask questions (make it engaging) throughout

3. The hook matters a lot (the first 5 seconds)

   1. A great hook induces creativity.. and without that you will lose 90% of the audience to another shiny object

   2. Your job is to leverage the shiny object tactic but actually deliver the substance

   3. Think of it like wrapping a carrot in a Kitkat packaging 🥕 [are you visualizing it already?]

4. CTA is key

   1. Have a clear call to action without which the whole piece ends abruptly

5. Summarize at the end

   1. Recap and reflect quickly on what the consumer learned or gained by finishing your piece. The 1 line takeaway is what they’ll remember in the long run.

Takeaway for you: Use these 5 foundational principles as you make your next move in business or content.

Call to action? Please hit reply and let me know what resonated well, or what can be improved and if you have any Qs :) Thank you for reading!

PS1: Really enjoyed having Ariel from Augment on my podcast recently. Below’s the full video if you want to check it out.

In that episode, you’ll hear about how 2 kids in France landed Silicon Valley’s top tech icons (like Shazam’s founder) as investors and early believers [at 8:35]

PS2: Your support for Talisman’s Product Hunt launch yesterday was OUTSTANDING. Talisman broke into top 3 within minutes of sending this newsletter and ended the day with #2 Product Of The Day award. Thank you very much!