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By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
Lenny answers a reader's question about how to build a business 'flywheel,' a visual model of which business elements reinforce each other to accelerate growth. He explains how to brainstorm one from assets, actions, needs, outputs, and optimizations, offers Jim Collins' retrospective method, and warns against overcomplicating the diagram. He illustrates with examples from Amazon, Uber, Netflix, and others.
Subscriber post — summary only01Key takeaways
- A flywheel is a visual tool that shows which business elements feed each other and accelerate growth.
- Start by listing your business's assets, user actions, user needs, outputs, and optimizations, then look for direct cause-and-effect loops.
- Jim Collins' approach compares past successes and failures to identify four to six flywheel components.
- Keep the flywheel simple; a diagram with too many loops and arrows stops being useful.
- Flywheels are often recognized only in hindsight, and the exercise is valuable for aligning colleagues on what matters most.
“A flywheel is just a tool for you and your team to identify and align on which parts of the business matter most.”Lenny Rachitsky · Lenny’s Newsletter
02Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.