My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
“If your strategy is something that everybody agrees with, it's not a strategy.”
What It Means
True strategic advantage requires doing things that reasonable people would disagree with or consider wrong
Why It Matters
Consensus strategies become table stakes and provide no competitive differentiation
When It's True
When seeking competitive advantage, when building differentiated business, when market rewards unique approaches
When It's Risky
When ignoring proven best practices, when being contrarian for its own sake, when lacking conviction in disagreeable elements
How to Apply
Test strategy by asking if competitors would disagree with parts of it
Expect pushback from advisors and team on disagreeable elements
Ensure disagreeable elements create genuine value, not just difference
Build conviction and culture to maintain disagreeable positions under pressure
Example Scenario
“Restaurant decides to provide unlimited free appetizers (disagreeable: increases costs significantly) because owner believes it creates customer loyalty that justifies premium pricing, despite industry experts calling it unsustainable”