After achieving repeatability, the founder/CEO has a 'second job.' They must stop building and selling the product themselves and start building the company that does it for them. This means shifting from being the PM of the product to becoming the PM of the company.
The deadliest startup phase is the 'sapling' stage: post-launch but pre-repeatability (under ~$5M ARR). Unlike the seed stage (planting) or scale stage (tree), this phase requires bespoke, non-scalable help to navigate the maze of finding the right customer and problem before the company withers.
Unlike studios that hedge with a slate of films, Pixar committed 100% to one director's passionate vision at a time. This 'all-in' mentality, where the studio's future depended on each project, was the foundation of its repeatable greatness and forced every film to be a success.
Founders often mistake $1M ARR for product-market fit. The real milestone is proven repeatability: a predictable way to find and win a specific customer profile who reliably renews and expands. This signal of a scalable business model typically emerges closer to the $5M-$10M ARR mark.
Beyond his known skills, Steve Jobs's core practice was metacognition. He treated his own thinking as a tool to be perpetually sharpened, constantly working on its elegance and discipline. This focus on the 'generator function' of his mind was the source of his profound impact.
Companies must actively fight the inertia of their customer understanding. Twitter's leadership held a stale mental model of its users, leading them to ship a feature that broke the platform for its most engaged cohort, whom they didn't realize were a core demographic.
A key to Twitter's early business success was making its ad and content formats the same: a tweet. This design choice made ads feel native and relevant, allowing brands to participate in real-time cultural moments. The model also seamlessly translated to mobile, avoiding Facebook's initial struggles.
Pixar's 'no hedging' culture was supported by a rigorous prototyping process. Directors created 'story reels' (moving comic strips) of the entire film 3-4 times a year. This forced rapid iteration and feedback from the studio's 'brain trust,' ensuring quality improved dramatically before full production.