A company's growth is limited by one of five constraints in a specific hierarchy. Leaders should diagnose them sequentially. First, ask if you have enough demand. If not, that's your only focus. Once solved, move to internal capacity, then external supply, then cash, and finally management attention.

A startup's success depends on many factors working in concert. Founders often default to their strengths (e.g., an engineer building the product). The correct, de-risking approach is to first tackle the biggest uncertainty or personal weakness, such as customer acquisition.

When constrained by time, service businesses can scale not just by hiring, but by changing the delivery ratio. Moving from 1-on-1 to a 1-on-4 model allows founders to serve more clients simultaneously, maintaining their unique value ("X-factor") without diluting the service.

To create another stable revenue stream ahead of her maternity leave, the founder informally rented a small part of her production facility to another entrepreneur. This person works off-hours, providing a no-conflict way to help cover rent and reduce financial stress.

When at equilibrium, you must choose what to sacrifice for growth: profit or reputation. Increasing demand first strains your team, damaging quality and reputation. Increasing supply first costs money and hurts short-term profit but builds capacity, protecting reputation and enabling sustainable growth.

When expanding his law firm, John Morgan uses a 'bullets before bombs' strategy. He first enters a new city with a small, low-cost team and ad budget (the 'bullets') to test viability. Only after seeing positive traction does he commit significant capital and resources (the 'bombs'), de-risking growth.

When you identify your business's primary bottleneck, don't take incremental steps. The most effective approach is to overwhelm the problem by simultaneously reading books, watching videos, hiring coaches, and taking massive, relentless action until that constraint is completely resolved and a new one emerges.

For a solo craftsman constrained by capacity, the first scaling lever isn't debt-fueled expansion. The safer, more effective approach is to significantly increase prices to manage demand, lengthen the waitlist, and boost margins, which can then fund slower, less risky growth.

Applying the Theory of Constraints, a startup's growth is limited by a single bottleneck in its factory (pipeline, sales, or delivery). Improving onboarding is useless if you have one sales call a month. All focus must be on solving that single constraint to make progress.