My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
“Pay attention to what other people pay attention to”
What It Means
Learning strategy where you observe what captures experts' attention as a way to understand their mental models and priorities
Why It Matters
Expert attention is a trained instrument that reveals high-signal information amateurs miss, providing a shortcut to domain expertise
When It's True
When interacting with genuine experts, when their attention reflects professional rather than personal bias, when you can understand the context
When It's Risky
When confusing personal quirks with professional insights, when lacking context to interpret reactions, when experts are outside their domain
How to Apply
Watch for moments when experts lean in or take notes
Ask why specific points captured their attention
Look for patterns across multiple expert interactions
Build databases of what different experts find noteworthy
Example Scenario
“Casually mentioning a TikTok hook to a TikTok expert who immediately takes notes and calls it company-making, revealing that hooks are the highest-leverage element in their success model.”