founders paras chopra, chapter by chapter
23. Do What’s Hard
Durable advantage often hides in work others cannot or will not sustain.
Easy, fashionable, and pleasant opportunities attract crowds. Less competition gathers around work that is technically difficult, capital-intensive, boring, unglamorous, or slow to pay off. Long time horizons can themselves become an unfair advantage because few organizations are patient enough to pursue them.
Look for valuable tasks your competitors systematically avoid, then ask whether you can commit to them for years. Verify that the work is hard and useful—difficulty alone creates no value. Build milestones and incentives that protect the long view from short-term drift.
Original sketch and model by Paras Chopra. Read the source chapter.