Does this step still solve a real problem?
Or does it exist because something was true four years ago?
10X Thinking → 10X Building
Great ideas do not create leverage while they are sitting in the parking lot.
Every founder has ideas that could change the business. The team is busy, the scope feels enormous and the starting block is unclear—so the idea survives for years without becoming real.
The critical question
What is the ONE thing that, if implemented even partially, can create the maximum leverage?
The COO example
What if the immediate project is not the product? What if it is freeing five hours per week from the COO who can make the product real?
Which meetings can disappear? Which approvals can move? Which recurring tasks can be delegated? Which broken system consumes two hours every Wednesday?
The 15-Step Question
Efficiency is not always doing all 15 steps faster.
Does this require a human?
Could a field, rule, template or automation do it more reliably?
Does it need to happen at all?
Removing work can create more leverage than optimizing work.
From Version 10 to Version 1
The founder sees the finished system. Richard asks what can work tomorrow.
The beautiful future
Custom software. Full integration. New training architecture. Enterprise rollout.
Likely reality: months, major investment, swamped people and no start.
The useful thing that exists now
One proven template. One shared SOP. Merge fields. A 3-minute video. One short training.
Version One creates momentum toward Version Ten.
A sophisticated implementation philosophy?
“Git-R-Done.”
Do not allow perfection, bureaucracy or Version 10 thinking to prevent a valuable Version 1 from existing.