Alex Hormozi cut a math-heavy chapter on customer acquisition from his main book because it "bogged down" too many readers. By moving this advanced content to a separate compilation, he preserved the accessibility of his core product while still serving a niche audience that values deep, technical analysis.
Adding new offerings is a smart growth strategy, but only if your primary business is stable and systemized. Launching a new service to escape existing chaos will only amplify it. Instead, treat the new offering as a separate, dedicated division to maintain focus and quality.
Alex Hormozi created what he calls one of his "most important chapters" on customer avatars only after his book was published. This was a direct response to audience questions, showing that post-launch user feedback is a crucial tool for identifying and developing your most vital concepts.
Hormozi's book of unreleased chapters shows that content is often cut for reasons of fit, scope, or complexity, not because it lacks value. This material can be a source of deeper, more advanced knowledge for a dedicated audience, even if it's not essential for the core strategy.
Instead of viewing niching as restricting business, adopt the "FOCUS" mindset: Fix One Clearly Urgent Struggle. This forces you to solve a high-value problem for a specific audience, which positions you as a category of one, much like the water brand Liquid Death.
Danny Meyer classifies ventures as "hardbacks" (unique, location-specific, not for replication) or "paperbacks" (concepts customers make essential, creating an obligation to scale). This framework helps founders decide which products should remain bespoke versus those that are ready for mass-market expansion.
Niching down allows you to dominate a small pond with less competition, enabling higher prices and faster learning. Once you're the "biggest guy in a puddle," you use your acquired skills and resources to graduate to a pond, then a lake, and finally the ocean.
To grow an established product, introduce new formats (e.g., Instagram Stories, Google AI Mode) as separate but integrated experiences. This allows you to tap into new user behaviors without disrupting the expectations and mental models users have for the core product, avoiding confusion and accelerating adoption.
Don't fight battles you can't win. For a product like Evernote, competing with free, pre-installed apps like Apple Notes for casual users is a losing proposition. The winning strategy is to focus on the advanced user segment whose complex needs justify paying for a more powerful tool.
Resisting the temptation to be a 'jack of all trades' is crucial for profitability. Specializing deeply in one service establishes you as an undeniable expert, which allows you to command premium prices and deliver a superior experience that generalists cannot replicate.
Many founders fail not from a lack of market opportunity, but from trying to serve too many customer types with too many offerings. This creates overwhelming complexity in marketing, sales, and product. Picking a narrow niche simplifies operations and creates a clearer path to traction and profitability.