1% Smarter Newsletter No. 007
What I'm reading, listening to, and learning from the week ending 1/1/22
The ideas are the easy thing, and the implementation is the hard thing.
Like, the idea of going to the moon is the easy part. But going to the moon is the hard part.
Fresh off of being named Time’s 2021 Person of the Year, Elon Musk recently sat down with Lex Fridman for an interview. At the 1:34 mark, he shares the nugget quoted above.
I was listening to the podcast while driving north on I-5, covering the interminable stretch of freeway that unfurls from the Tejon Pass outside of Los Angeles through California’s vast Central Valley. Late afternoon sunlight slanted through my window as I distractedly gazed at the open valley ahead of me. Something about the simplicity of Musk’s remark snapped me out of my stupor. I paused the podcast and reflected.
Occasionally, I find myself discussing with friends and colleagues the question, “What matters more in business: the idea, or the execution?” In other words, are great businesses chiefly the product of a brilliant idea, or rather are they born out of some combination of tenacity, perseverance, and action?
The short answer is, of course, both: each is necessary (but not sufficient) to achieving greatness.
For example, Travis Kalanick came up with the ingenious idea to create a two-sided marketplace, pairing drivers—using their own cars—with passengers who were looking for a better experience than hailing a taxi. How clever! But merely having the idea was not enough: he (or the team he assembled) then needed to build an app, generate volume on both sides of the market, take on the entrenched taxi interests, and dissuade skeptical lawmakers from outlawing Uber.
My point is not to lionize the imperfect Kalanick. My point is to emphasize that both the idea and the execution matter.
However, over time, I have come to agree with Musk’s perspective. Even dunces can generate great ideas, as Tom Segura breaks down in one of his hilarious acts. Yes, they are important, but the relatively scarcer—and therefore more valuable—ability is to take an idea and make it reality.
And so, while thought and action are both imperative for humankind’s success, the latter is ever-so-slightly more critical to our continued progress.
💡 Featured Content
My top pick this week
🎧 Elon Musk: SpaceX, Mars, Tesla Autopilot, Self-Driving, Robotics, and AI on Lex Fridman Podcast
🖥 Web3
📄 The Community Garden: The Case for Leaving FAANG Companies for Crypto by Dan McCarthy
📄 A Visual Guide to Profile Picture NFTs by Marcus Lu
🧪 Science
📄 Pan-coronavirus "super" vaccine by Katelyn Jetelina
🏛 Government and Policy
📄 The American Dream is on Life Support in the Bay Area by Hari Raghavan
💰 Money & Investing
🎧 The 2021 Bestie Awards on the All-In Podcast
🎧 2022 Predictions on the All-In Podcast
Agree with the point here, Giff. I think there is another category of success drivers for a startup - Strategy. It would fall somewhere between execution and idea - you take an idea and create a plan to execute on that.