Would You Start This Tomorrow Test

Shaan Puri's framework for evaluating whether you're working on the right thing, based on his experience selling his company after 6 years.

The "Would You Start This Tomorrow" Test

• Core question: If your company/project closed tomorrow, would you call the same people and work on the same thing?
• If the answer is no, you're only doing it because of inertia - you're already doing it
• The test reveals whether you're genuinely excited about the work or just continuing out of momentum
• Doesn't need to be the absolute best opportunity in the world - just needs to be a "hell yes"

The danger of inertia

• "Inertia's a bitch" - objects in motion stay in motion unless there's a force to resist it
• You'll keep doing something simply because you're already doing it
• Can lead to years spent on projects you wouldn't choose if starting fresh
• Shaan spent 6 years, did 10 different products through pivots, only there because of successive pivots

The real risk: mediocrity, not failure

• For high-potential people, failure is not the biggest risk
• The real risk is getting stuck in something that's "just okay" for too long
• Mediocrity saps your will, time, resources, energy, and belief in yourself
• Failure is quick and painful but you bounce back and keep your most precious asset: time
• Being "okay" is more dangerous than flaming out

What matters more than hard work

Hard work is overrated - maybe the 4th or 5th most important variable:

1. Project selection - what you work on matters far more than how hard you work
   • Wrong industry/project limits outcomes no matter how hard you work
2. Who you work with - the people matter tremendously
3. Timing and luck - external factors beyond your control
4. Hard work - comes after the above factors

When hard work does matter

• Good for developing skill, especially in your 20s when you have time
• Easy to throw hours at problems when you're young and have less judgment
• As you get older with less time/energy, judgment must make up for lack of hours
• Most projects fail but the skills stick with you
• Focus on the skill-building aspect of working hard

Current decision-making framework

• Simple rule: Am I doing this for a result or because I like doing it?
• No longer does things for future payoff while suffering today
• The work has to be the win - the reward is doing the thing itself
• If you do it this way, you win by doing it AND might win from results
• Doing things only opportunistically means when they don't work (most of the time), it feels like a waste

The flywheel effect

• When you enjoy the work, you do it all the time
• Because you do it all the time, you get really good at it
• Because you get really good at it, you get the results
• Would likely be further ahead if he'd focused on enjoyment earlier

Your biggest cost

• Not taxes or expenses - it's opportunity cost
• Biggest waste is doing something well that needn't have been done at all (Elon's principle)
• Biggest risk is spending your life doing a really good job at the wrong thing