Relentless Resource Allocation (Musk-Style Efficiency)

Framework: First Principles Decision-Making

📌 “Boil things down to the most fundamental truths, then reason up from there.” – Elon Musk

Mini Course: Strip It to the Core

Musk doesn’t ask, “What’s everyone else doing?” He asks, “What must be true? What are the raw materials, the physics, the first principles?”

Most businesspeople copy competitors or follow trends. Masters reverse-engineer from scratch. When you're stuck—whether in pricing, team decisions, marketing, or product—use first principles.

Task: Run a First Principles Breakdown

1. Define the outcome. What are you actually trying to achieve? (E.g., increase conversions.)

2. Break it down. What is this really made of? What variables control it? (e.g., traffic × CTR × offer × trust.)

3. Challenge assumptions. What are you blindly accepting as “normal” that could be wrong or reimagined?

4. Rebuild. What’s the most direct, simplest solution using base truths?

Example:

Problem: “Our ads aren’t converting.”

Default thinking: Let’s tweak the creative or increase the budget.

First principles thinking:

• Goal: Conversion = Trust × Relevance × Clarity

• Raw components: Offer quality, message, audience match

• Fundamental truth: If people aren’t buying, they either don’t believe it, don’t want it, or don’t understand it.
  → So instead of re-running the ad, you rebuild the offer or proof strategy from scratch.

First principles will make you dangerous. You stop copying. You start inventing.