When starting a company, choosing your industry is 10% of the work but determines 50% of the outcome

"Picking the right market is really one of those durable pieces of advice. Even if you build the wrong product in the right market, that's many times better than building the right product in a wrong market."

— Jeff Meyerson, Software Engineering Daily https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1252666770579525632?s=20

A top-10 tennis player makes 10-20 times more money than a top-10 player in any other racket sport.

In business, here's what the data says: One study found that "50% of a firm’s performance compared to the broader corporate universe is driven by what’s happening in its industry"

This is a good quote from a McKinsey report.

"The role of industry in a company’s position is so substantial that you’d rather be an average company in a great industry than a great company in an average industry." https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-strategy-and-corporate-finance-blog/could-roger-federer-be-as-successful-playing-badminton

"The average economic profit of airlines is a loss of $99 million, while suppliers in the aerospace category average a profit of $453 million. In fact, the 20th percentile aerospace supplier, Saab AB, earns more economic profit than the 80th percentile airline, Air New Zealand."

The Cool at a Bar Principle: The cooler you sound when you tell other people about your work, the more competition your industry will have.

Example: Health bars