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Elon Musk’s Secret

Weapon: A Beginner’s Happy snaps.

Guide to First Principles

Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla Motors (http://instagram.com/p/iP67uTDFm

(http://www.teslamotors.com/), an American electric car

manufacturing company. The company has been responsible for
technical innovations that many thought impossible, like producing (http://instagram.com/p/iGZsqyDFpb

battery packs more cheaply than ever before. Musk says these
innovations are made possible by “reasoning from first principles”.
But what does that mean, and how can we apply it to our own lives,
businesses and projects? (http://instagram.com/p/iGQmZuDFk

In a recent interview with Kevin Rose

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-s_3b5fRd8), Musk said the (http://instagram.com/p/iBU5WODFg
following:

(http://instagram.com/p/gubQaVjFnq

I think it’s important to reason from first

principles rather than by analogy. The normal
way we conduct our lives is we reason by (http://instagram.com/p/f1lLPMjFre/)

analogy. We are doing this because it’s like

something else that was done, or it is like what
other people are doing. Slight iterations on a (http://instagram.com/p/f1lA1JDFrZ/

theme.

(http://instagram.com/p/fjbyvJjFhK/)

Meaning: we usually take something that already exists and innovate

within that paradigm. In the startup world, entrepreneurs create
“Pinterest for kids” or “Foursquare for hikers”. In design, we put our
Some tasty tweets.
own spin on whatever design patterns are in vogue right now. In
programming, we code mostly in the same way that other Microlancer provider

programmers code, using the same tools. @damontana

(http://twitter.com/damontana),

This isn’t a terrible thing. Reasoning from analogy tends to help avoid makes really effective

really bad ideas, since we’re thinking in terms of what has worked Facebook cover and profile
images for brands. Check
well before. But it’s not particularly useful when a problem requires
them:
deep innovation.
http://t.co/AOjehThhDr
(http://t.co/AOjehThhDr)
10 HOURS AGO

(HTTP://TWITTER.COM/MICROLANCERBE
“First principles” is a physics way of looking at
the world. What that really means is that you boil
I love these retro-style
things down to the most fundamental truths and
business cards by
then reason up from there. That takes a lot more @SAOStudioGF
mental energy. (http://twitter.com/SAOStudioGF)
on Microlancer. Only $35
Someone could – and people do — say battery too! http://t.co/qu764T4I7u
packs are really expensive and that’s just the way (http://t.co/qu764T4I7u)

they will always be because that’s the way they ^Jords

http://t.co/nlIw5ig2HE
have been in the past. They would say it’s going
(http://t.co/nlIw5ig2HE)
to cost $600 / KWhour. It’s not going to be much
15 HOURS AGO
better than that in the future. (HTTP://TWITTER.COM/MICROLANCERBE
Meaning: throughout history, thousands of pundits have claimed that
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a certain industry, design pattern, object or idea had reached its peak. Microlancer’s Highest Selling
That it could never be improved upon, or produced more cheaply. Graphic Design Team.

And most who’ve made these kinds of statements have been proven http://t.co/VZfpDoYcjZ
(http://t.co/VZfpDoYcjZ)
wrong by the course of innovation. Alternatively, they had predicted
17 HOURS AGO
only small improvements when drastic improvements were still within
(HTTP://TWITTER.COM/MICROLANCERBE
reach.

So, from first principles, we say: what are the Categories

material constituents of the batteries? What is
the spot market value of the material Advice
constituents? It has carbon, nickel, aluminum, (http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
and some polymers for separation, and a steel Freelance Freedom
can. Break that down on a materials basis, if we
(http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
bought that on a London Metal Exchange, what
freedom/)
would each of these things cost? Oh geez, it’s
Freelancing Essentials
$80 / KWhour. Clearly, you need to think of clever
(http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
ways to take those materials and combine them
essentials/)
into the shape of a battery cell, and you can have
Inspiration
batteries that are much cheaper than anyone
(http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
realizes.
Interviews

(http://blog.microlancer.com/categor

News
Meaning: rather than taking what already
We start (http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
exists as the basis of our thinking, we
from the Opinion
break the problem down to its most
problem’s (http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
fundamental truths and examine each
most Polls
piece. Even though a problem has
basic (http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
already been solved, we start from the
elements Trends
problem’s most basic elements to
to
reexamine whether a better solution (http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
reexamine
might be possible. Uncategorized
whether
(http://blog.microlancer.com/categor
Musk talks about breaking down the a better
concept of a battery pack into its solution
foundational, material elements: carbon, might
nickel, aluminum, polymers, a casing. be
Archives
These are the essential ingredients of a possible.
battery pack, the fundamental truths of Select Month
the problem. From there, everything else
can be optimized and improved upon depending on the smarts of the
people tackling the problem.
In this case, reasoning from analogy would be to say “It currently
costs about $600 / KWhour to create a battery pack. We need to
budget accordingly.” It means to set up machinery and acquire
materials in the same way others have done because, well, that’s
what has worked so far.

Unless you’re an engineer or deeply interested in battery packs, this

example probably feels a little far from home. Here are a few more
examples:

Entrepreneurship

Problem: Creating a website that allows customers to buy a new car

at a low price and have it home delivered, sparing them the pain of a
stressful dealership visit and price negotiation.

Reasoning from analogy: New cars are purchased from dealerships.

Maybe the website provides an online way to communicate with a car
salesperson and negotiate a price via online chat? The customer can
pick up the car from the dealership, or have the salesperson deliver it.

Reasoning from first principles: If

What if
customers are purchasing new cars, we
we
need to secure the cheapest possible
could
source of new cars. What if we could
manufacture
manufacture the cars ourselves? Or, if
the cars
that’s impossible, or not economical,
ourselves?
purchase them directly from the
manufacturer, bypassing dealerships
completely?

Design

Problem: Create the world’s most minimal, beautiful email app.

Reasoning from analogy: Gmail has an awesome email interface, but

it’s not very minimal looking. What if I created an interface similar to
Gmail, cut out a few features, and used only black and white?

Reasoning from first principles: Email requires that one user can send
a message to another and have it be read. The most minimal possible
email app would do only these things. I’m going to need to use some
clever design techniques to make sure the app is still fun and
practical to use…
Programming

Problem: Create a login system for a web app.

Reasoning from analogy: Most apps require a user to provide a

username, email address and password, with the password
confirmed twice. That seems to be best practice, so I’ll do the same.

Reasoning from first principles: What’s the least information I need to

collect from the user to make the app functional? The app creates a
page for each user that is their online identity hub. I want their full
name to be displayed at the top of the page, so I need to collect that.
I won’t display a username anywhere in the app, so I don’t really need
that. But if two users have the same name, how will I create a unique
URL slug for each? I guess I could add a randomized number to the
slug, and do a check before saving that ensures the number is
unique…

I’ll then need to collect the user’s email in-case they forget their
password. I probably don’t need to verify their password twice, since
the app will allow them to easily reset it as long as they have access
to their email account.

Wrapping Up

Reasoning from first principles helps to ensure that you develop the
smartest, leanest possible solution to a problem. It may even result in
some astounding innovations. The downside is that it’s a much harder
path than reasoning from analogy. A one-question problem now
becomes a 100 question problem. But when you’re working on
something that truly matters to you, this process of hard thinking will
truly be worth it.

With so many other smart people working on similar problems, the

easiest way to truly innovate, no matter what field you’re in, is to
reason from first principles.

(http://blog.microlancer.com/buyer-
(http://blog.microlancer.com/productivity-
poll- 11-
matters-
words/)
choosing-
service-
buy/)
11 Comments.
rtdp (http://rtdptech.com)
NOVEMBER 14, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-92) /

Nice write up !

I too, was really impressed with his way of reasoning first

principle.

Going that way, sometimes makes things look so easy

and uncluttered. Thanks for write up, i have place for
other to point while explaining this ;-)

Kyle
NOVEMBER 14, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-95) /

The first half of this post is weird, and I’m not sure if it’s
supposed to be funny or not. You repeatedly quoted
Elon’s own words, and then a “Meaning:” section after
that which uses analogies to rephrase his stated
principles.

I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be mocking Elon, or

yourself, or the state of tech journalism, or what. It didn’t
exactly come across as humorous, so I can’t even tell if
it’s intentional.

Brad Neuberg (http://codinginparadise.org)

NOVEMBER 14, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-97) /

Great writeup. Sounds like a solid reverse engineering of

Elon Musk’s technique :)

Ben Sima (http://bensima.com)

NOVEMBER 14, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-98) /
 > “I’ll then need to collect the user’s email in-case they
forget their password. I probably don’t need to verify their
password twice…”

Why do you even need to collect a password? These are

just used as an abstract identifier. What else can identify a
person? Cell phone, facial recognition, vocal recognition,
typing pattern [1], fingerprint (hold up finger to iSight
camera)…

[1]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystroke_dynamics#Use_as_Biometric_Data
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystroke_dynamics#Use_as_Biometric_Data)

David (http://dbrown.net)
NOVEMBER 14, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-99) /

Nitpicking, but it’s kW times hours (kW·hour), not kW per

hour (kW/hour): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilowatt_hour
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilowatt_hour)

Cade Roux
NOVEMBER 15, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-100) /

The examples you give are not great.

Reasoning from first principles about what people use

email for email gives us things like Google Wave,
Hangouts, DropBox etc. what you are giving us is a
minimal email app that assumes email is what the users
want and not something else that they happen to use
email for. Because what you have outlined could be the
same as SMS and would meet the needs of a user who
really just needs SMS.

Reasoning from first principles would be thinking about

what people need to do and why and solving the
underlying problem.
 In fact, your example about the battery is not a first
principles reasoning. First principles would not assume
that a battery was necessary.

Fred Johnson
NOVEMBER 15, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-101) /

Hiya.

I liked learning about this concept. Great that Musk thinks

this way.

So, you said, repeatedly: “$600 KW/hour”. That’s actually

a nonsensical quantity. What you most likely meant was
something like “$600 / KWhour”.
A kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy, and this is typically
what batteries are measured by.

Alan
NOVEMBER 15, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-103) /

Whats weird is the choice not to reason from first

principles about this but instead attempt to reason like
some existing example reasons.

Jimit Shah (http://iamjimit.com)

NOVEMBER 15, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-105) /

I like your “Reasoning from first principles” things. It is

saying divide the problem into pieces and analyze each
piece preciously. Extract required information from it and
implement those things only. Nice way to visualize the
problem.

Thanks for writing.

Lelala (http://www.lelala.ch)
NOVEMBER 15, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-
PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-106) /

The solely answer to smart-ass Elon is very simple:

He studied physics, a hardskiller discipline – not a
mickey-mouse-discipline like “business administration” :-)
Math & physics are the basic principles of the whole
universe, these are universal rules & skills (and because of
that you need a lot more “mental-energy” as he was
quoted above).
People like him have a very deep and fundamental
perspective on how the world is working…
Cheers

Mike Friedrich (http://www.cenano.de)

NOVEMBER 15, 2013 (HTTP://BLOG.MICROLANCER.COM/ELON-

MUSKS-GREATEST-WEAPON-LAYMANS-GUIDE-FIRST-

PRINCIPLES/#COMMENT-111) /

Great, true but not new.

Important is if prospects will accept an evolution rather
than a revolutionary new product.
However a clear and simple revolutionary big vision of the
future is crucial . I differentiate the BIG thing and start
from the creation of adequate new materials. Further
evolutionary product and marketing steps to positioning
and sales are important.

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