Forty-second Boyd, OODA Loop, Dominance, and the need for speed.
(~2 min read)
Why should you move fast?
Answering this on a surface level is pretty simple - life is short, time is running out, you’re not getting any younger, and arthritis is around the corner. But there is a new realm of reality to this question which has been brought to my attention quite recently. And now I cannot ignore it.
When you’re running a company, weather you like it or not, you’re at war. And when you’re at war, there are only 2 realities - total domination, or unconditional surrender. the former is pretty straightforward to understand. but incase the latter has you confused, in plain English, unconditional surrender means: “We stop fighting, and you decide the terms.”
What does velocity have to do with any of this?
In WWII, the US Air Force had a pilot called John Boyd, or as most people knew him, “Forty-second Boyd”. Why was he called “forty-second Boyd”? This man had a standing bet that even from a disadvantaged position, he could defeat any opposing pilot in simulated air combat in less than 40 seconds. He was so dominant in these dogfight challenges that he became legendary inside Air Force pilot circles. How?
He came up with a framework called the OODA loop to explain his apparent dominance. OODA stands for observation, orientation, decision and action. I’m not getting into detail on OODA, but his main point was that whoever cycles through the OODA loop faster can outmaneuver the opponent and absolutely destroy the opponent’s mental state.
a.k.a. Velocity = Domination.
To break it down simply - if it takes you 1 min to complete the cycle, while ur competitor takes 2 mins, you’re obviously moving faster, but there’s a 2nd order effect to this. By the time ur competition is halfway through the cycle, you’ve already taken action, and that action has now caused the whole narrative and situation to change. So now, your competition has to restart the loop to understand what has changed, and start all over again. By the time he again reaches halfway point, you’ve completed yet another cycle and the narrative has changed once again. so this poor guy, goes back to restart, yet again. And this spiral continues to follow.
This puts the opposition in a pyschological dent, they cannot possibly comprehend what is happening, so they go into a defensive state, while you’re continously dominating.
Elon does this with all his companies, Anduril is doing this with the defense space, its one of the reasons why Ramp won over Brex even after starting from a clearly disadvantaged position. Every company/person you see currently win, is purely due to domination caused by unprecidented rate of velocity.
Nothing great comes from being humble and modest, and no matter what people tell you or what you see, don’t ever fall into the trap of believing them. I made a mistake, and it cost me deeply. Life rewards aggression. And aggression is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s the greatest characteristic you could have, and it’s absolutely needed. Push front with all your force and be the most aggressive version of yourself, and never feel bad about it. Life is short, and if you want something, you gotta dominate with aggression and get there.
Chase velocity.
-RJagiasi