First Principles Thinking: Build from Fundamentals, Not Assumptions

“What must be true for this to work?”

The Problem

Most solo founders don’t start from truth. They start from templates.

They use tools because “everyone else does.”
They delay a launch because they assume it has to be polished.
They build features that no one asked for.

That’s not strategy — it’s assumption-stacking.

What Is First Principles Thinking?

First Principles Thinking means stripping a problem down to its core components and rebuilding from scratch.

Instead of saying,

“What’s worked before?”
you ask:
“What’s actually true here?”

It’s about questioning defaults and thinking for yourself — not just recycling someone else’s blueprint.

Why It Matters for Solo Founders

You don’t have time to overbuild.
You don’t have room for wasted effort.
You can’t afford to build things no one asked for.

This model helps you:

• Make faster, more focused decisions
• Build what’s necessary — and skip the rest
• Stay out of the comparison trap

Example: Launching Without Overhead

You want to launch a course.

Default thinking:

“I need a brand, a site, an LMS, a full curriculum, and an email sequence.”

First Principles Thinking reframes it:

“What must be true for this to work?”

Answer:

• A problem exists
• People trust me to solve it
• They have a way to pay me

Suddenly, you don’t need an LMS.

You need a one-liner, a way to test interest, and a payment link. That’s it.

Ask Yourself

• What am I assuming by default?
• If I couldn’t use any templates or tools, how would I solve this?
• What’s the simplest path to proving this works?

Bonus Prompt

Write this sentence in your notes:

“To make this work, the only things that must be true are…”

Limit yourself to 3 answers.
That’s your action list. The rest is noise.

Final Thought

You don’t need to follow someone else’s playbook.

You need to ask better questions — and build from truth.