focus

80/20 Focus

You suspect something you're doing isn't worth your time. This skill helps you decide: kill it, refine it, or pivot to something with more leverage.

This skill is for evaluating whether an activity is worth your time — time allocation, not product decisions. For deciding which features to build next, use prioritize. For finding your best acquisition channel without a specific activity to evaluate, use growth.

How This Works

1. You describe the activity and what's (not) happening
2. I diagnose: wrong activity or wrong execution?
3. I compare it against higher-leverage alternatives at your stage
4. You get a verdict and a concrete plan for this week

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Step 1: Understand

Before diagnosing, establish the basics. Ask the founder:

• What exactly are you doing? (Be specific — not "marketing" but "sending 50 cold emails per week to SaaS founders")
• How much time per week?
• What results so far? (Replies, demos, signups, revenue — whatever the activity is supposed to produce)

2-3 questions. Not an interrogation.

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Step 2: Diagnose

Apply two filters:

Ceiling Test

Even if you executed this perfectly, would it move the needle at your stage?

Signs of a low ceiling:

• Cold outreach to enterprise when you have no case studies or social proof
• SEO content strategy when you have 0 customers and no product-market fit signal
• Building integrations when your core product doesn't retain users
• Paid ads when you don't know your conversion rate or LTV
• Perfecting onboarding when you don't have enough signups to measure

A low ceiling means the activity can't work yet — not at this stage, not with these prerequisites missing.

Execution Test

Are you doing the high-leverage 20% of this activity, or spreading effort across the full 100%?

Signs of a 100% spread:

• Sending 100 generic emails instead of 10 deeply researched ones
• Writing 4 blog posts per week instead of 1 exceptional one
• Building 5 features at once instead of finishing 1
• Posting on 4 social platforms instead of dominating 1
• Attending 3 networking events per week instead of deeply following up with 5 warm contacts

The 80/20 version is almost always: do less, but do it with more depth and intention.

If both tests fail — low ceiling AND spread execution — the verdict is Kill. Wrong activity done the wrong way cannot be refined into something that works.

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Step 3: Leverage Comparison

Regardless of the diagnosis, compare the current activity against 2-3 alternatives in the same category. The founder needs to see: even if this activity is fine, is it the BEST use of these hours?

Category: Customer Acquisition

Tactic	Early Stage (<$1k MRR)	Growth ($1k-$10k MRR)	Scaling ($10k+ MRR)
Direct outreach	High leverage (if targeted)	Medium — shifts to partnerships	Low — doesn't scale
Content/SEO	Low — too slow, no domain authority	Medium — start building	High — compounds over time
Paid ads	Low — don't know LTV yet	Medium — test with small budget	High — scale what converts
Community/social	High — build relationships that convert	High — establishes authority	Medium — diminishing personal returns
Referrals	Low — not enough users	High — program pays for itself	High — lowest CAC channel
Partnerships	Low — nothing to offer yet	High — mutual amplification	High — channel partnerships

Common trap: Founders at early stage invest in SEO or paid ads because they feel scalable. But without product-market fit signal, you're scaling something that doesn't work.

Category: Product

Tactic	Early Stage	Growth	Scaling
New features	Medium — only if validating PMF	Low — focus on what exists	Medium — expand for new segments
Bug fixes	High — broken product kills trust	High — reliability matters	High — always
Onboarding polish	High — activation is everything	High — biggest ROI per hour	Medium — diminishing returns
Technical debt	Low — premature optimization	Medium — only if blocking you	High — invest systematically
Design polish	Low — function over form	Medium — builds trust	High — competitive differentiator

Common trap: Building features before fixing activation. New features don't help if users never experience the existing ones.

Category: Retention

Tactic	Early Stage	Growth	Scaling
Manual check-ins	High — learn why people stay/leave	Medium — can't scale	Low — automate
Email sequences	Medium — worth a basic welcome	High — lifecycle program	High — sophisticated segmentation
Feedback collection	High — talk to every user	High — systematize	Medium — diminishing signal-to-noise
Usage monitoring	Low — not enough data	High — catch churn signals	High — predictive models

Common trap: Building retention mechanics before you have enough users to retain. At early stage, just talk to people.

Category: Revenue

Tactic	Early Stage	Growth	Scaling
Pricing changes	High — most founders underprice	High — test annually	Medium — optimize
Upsells/expansion	Low — get the first sale right	High — existing customers are cheapest	High — major growth lever
Payment optimization	Low — not enough volume	Medium — reduce failed payments	High — dunning is money
Annual plans	Medium — if anyone will commit	High — improves cash flow	High — reduces churn

Common trap: Offering discounts instead of raising prices. Most early-stage SaaS is underpriced, not overpriced.

Category: Operations

Tactic	Early Stage	Growth	Scaling
Legal/compliance	Low — do the minimum	Medium — as revenue grows	High — real liability
Automation/tooling	Low — manual is fine	Medium — automate repetitive	High — systems thinking
Hiring/contracting	Low — do it yourself	Medium — first hire	High — build the team
Financial tracking	Low — spreadsheet	Medium — proper books	High — forecasting matters

Common trap: Automating things you do once a week. Your time is better spent on customers until the manual work takes hours per day.

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Step 4: Recommend

Deliver one of three verdicts:

Kill

The activity has a low ceiling at the founder's stage, or alternatives are dramatically higher leverage. Stop entirely. Redirect the freed-up hours to a specific alternative.

Refine

The activity is right, but execution is spread too thin. Cut to the 20% version — specific instructions on what to stop doing within this activity, and what to double down on.

Pivot

The category is right (e.g., customer acquisition) but the tactic is wrong for this stage. Switch to a specific alternative tactic with instructions for the 80/20 version.

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Output Format

Every recommendation must follow this format:

Verdict: Kill / Refine / Pivot

Why: 2-3 sentences. What's the effort-to-result ratio? What's the ceiling? How does it compare to alternatives?

This week:

• Stop doing [specific thing]
• Start doing [specific thing] — here's the 20% version: [concrete instructions]
• Expected time shift: [X hrs/week freed up → redirected to Y]

The 80/20 version of [recommended activity]: A specific description of the minimum effective dose. Not "do content marketing" but "write one LinkedIn post per day sharing a lesson from building your product. No blog, no SEO, no content calendar. Just the post."

Trap to avoid: One common mistake founders make when switching to this activity.

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Related Skills

• prioritize — RICE scoring for which features to build (product decisions, not time allocation)
• growth — PLG strategy and activation funnels
• validate — Test whether an idea has demand before investing time
• launch — Channel strategy for getting a product to market