World-Changing Inventions Are Often Simple: How Can You Tell When Yours Is Too Complicated?

Originally published 2022-07-30Robin’s commentary (as of July 2022)

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Collected in Robin Shen’s Field Notes · Content type and attribution are shown above

English translation of the Chinese post originally published 2022-07-30. Translated 2026-10-31 with AI assistance. Historical figures and claims have not been updated or independently verified. 中文原文

Reading guide

Robin argues that world-changing inventions are often extremely simple: easy to understand and explain, flexible, and open to layers of applications. Business models should likewise be simple and focused, doing one thing well at a time. If you cannot explain your product, service, and model quickly, they are too complicated; start over if necessary and narrow the battlefield rather than launching on four fronts with eight products. His three tests: can you explain it on one A4 page, in six minutes, and to the grandmother selling vegetables on the corner?

Key points

Simple things are flexible and support layers of applications.
Keep the business model as simple and focused as possible.
Three tests: one A4 page, six minutes, and an explanation the grandmother on the corner can understand.
Narrow the battlefield rather than launch on every front at once.

One clear path continues into the distance among several branching routes, suggesting choice and focus. — Entrepreneurship & strategyThematic illustration · AI generated

Full text — English translation

World-changing inventions are often extremely simple. Simple things are easy to understand, explain, and put to different uses. Even the inventor may not yet know how they will be used, but their simplicity and flexibility allow many applications to be layered on top and adapted. Complex things are much less flexible. Better to keep things simple than make them too complicated. The same applies to business models: the simpler the model and venture, and the tighter the focus, the better. Often it is a question of trade-offs. Do one thing well at a time. If you cannot explain your product, service, and business model quickly, I think you have made them too complicated. Start over if you can. Clarify your core advantage, focus on the problem most in need of solving, and narrow the battlefield wherever possible—rather than simultaneously launching on four fronts with eight product projects. #SubtractionCreatesGreatProductsMoreThanAddition #OneBenefitOfWorkingWithVCsIsConstantElimination #NarrowTenProjectsDownToOne #LimitedResourcesRequireFocus ---- Time for Robin: how do we judge simplicity versus complexity? 1. Cannot explain it on one A4 page → too complicated. 2. Cannot explain it in six minutes → too complicated. 3. The grandmother selling vegetables on the corner cannot understand it → too complicated. Reorganize and pare it down again to the most essential, easily understood explanation.

These articles are personal notes, book excerpts, and collected reprints. Figures and events reflect the time of the original publication, are not current information, and do not constitute investment advice.

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