Designing a business for durability: a founder's reading of Buffett
Buffett reads financial statements to find durable businesses. Read in reverse, the same signals become a design checklist for anyone building a business from scratch.
10 min read
Insights
Practical reading for business owners.
Articles on operations, manufacturing, engineering, decision making, finance and business. Organised by subject, so you can find what matters to you.
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Durable competitive advantage: the idea behind Buffett's best investments
Why Warren Buffett looks for businesses whose advantage lasts for decades, the three shapes that advantage usually takes, and what it means for anyone building a business.
10 min read
Explore or exploit? The multi-armed bandit problem
Should you stick with what works or try something new? The bandit problem formalises this dilemma. How exploration strategies work and how to apply them to marketing, products and suppliers.
10 min read
First impressions and the 12×12×12 rule
People form impressions within moments. What the popular 12×12×12 rule captures, what research on first impressions supports, and how to start well without pretending.
10 min read
Five practical ways to improve your conversion rate
Converting more of the opportunities you already have is often the fastest way to grow. Five practical levers, how to measure them and how to choose where to start.
10 min read
Focusing business resources without losing flexibility
Learn how a small business can concentrate effort on a valuable customer problem, test uncertain choices and expand carefully without committing every resource.
13 min read
Framing, certainty and the limits of rational choice
Decision theory describes how choices should be made; people often choose differently. How the certainty effect, framing and prospect theory shape real decisions, and how to design around them.
10 min read
From bargains to quality: how Buffett moved beyond Graham
Benjamin Graham taught Warren Buffett to buy businesses for less than they were worth. Buffett's shift towards owning great businesses for decades offers a lesson that reaches well beyond investing.
10 min read
From prospect to customer: proposals, objections and decisions
The satisfying stage turns a qualified opportunity into a customer. How to build a proposal around the customer's own words, handle objections as information, and make saying yes easy.
10 min read
From training to habit: building a personal action plan
Good intentions fade; habits last. How to turn new skills into a short, specific personal action plan, and why small, repeated actions beat ambitious resolutions.
10 min read
When others decide too: game theory for business decisions
Your best choice often depends on what others do. A plain-English guide to dominant strategies, Nash equilibrium, the prisoner's dilemma and how people really reason about each other.
10 min read
Good at, need to practise: deliberate practice for business skills
Skills such as questioning, listening and negotiating improve through deliberate practice, not experience alone. How to assess yourself honestly, practise effectively and get useful feedback.
10 min read
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