First principles thinking & business
First principles thinking — from Elon Musk’s interviews to how you play this game
Why the game is named First Principles: the title was inspired by Elon Musk’s public remarks on using a first-principles approach—in business and more broadly when solving problems in life and work—rather than copying “how things have always been done.” This project then ties that mindset to calculus-first thinking on the graph (what changes, how fast, what accumulates).
Elon Musk didn’t invent the idea of first principles—it’s an old philosophy and physics habit—but he repopularized it for builders: at Tesla, SpaceX, and in many public talks he has urged teams to stop copying analogies (“batteries cost X because the market says so”) and instead unpack assumptions until you hit bedrock truths you can reason upward from (chemistry, mass, energy, materials, telemetry). This page is not business or investing advice; it’s a mental model you can practice while playing First Principles (the game) and while reading the math docs.
What “first principles” usually means (builder version)
- Name the outcome — What physical or economic state do you want? (e.g. “safe reusable launch,” “affordable kWh stored,” “product ships in a week.”)
- Strip analogy — “Nobody does it that way” or “the incumbents charge Y” is history, not physics. List what is actually fixed vs negotiable.
- List real constraints — Conservation laws, unit economics that must close, regulation, latency, human factors. Separate hard limits from social defaults.
- Reason upward — Combine base facts into a new stack (new process, supplier, architecture). Expect non-linear leverage: small changes in fundamentals change feasibility.
- Test the derivative — Where is the system most sensitive? A tiny experiment at the highest-slope part of your model beats polishing the wrong lever.
That last step is where calculus intuition helps—even when you’re not integrating on paper.
How the game is a literal metaphor
| In the business phrase | In First Principles (this game) |
|---|---|
| Outcome / “what we’re optimizing” | The main curve (y = f(x)) — the path you think the world follows. |
| Sensitivity / what moves fastest | The derivative (f’(x)) — where small changes in (x) create big changes in outcome (or where the “floor” appears or vanishes). |
| Stages and pivots | Stage HUD and derivative pops — you segment the run; each act reveals a new piece of the model. |
| Integrals / accumulated effect | Riemann / area levels — many small decisions (rectangles) sum to total effect; refining the grid is the limit toward the true integral. |
| Multivariable reality | Saddle / paraboloid slices — you fix other variables and walk one slice; real businesses hide dimensions you must hold constant to think clearly. |
| Engineering truth vs slide deck | Engineering & aerospace stages — toy models that still obey shape truths (stall, drag polar, damping) instead of buzzwords. |
Playing is deliberate practice for: “Do I understand what I’m assuming is the curve, and where the slope says I should care?”
A compact “Musk-style” loop for a business week (practice)
Use a single page (or whiteboard) per bet:
- Current analogy — “We’re like Uber for ___.” Cross it out; write one sentence of the physical or transactional truth you deliver.
- Atoms of cost & time — What are the minutes, grams, dollars, API calls? Ballpark ranges, not false precision.
- Kill one sacred cow — What would you do if that supplier, that feature, or that channel didn’t exist?
- One measurable derivative — Pick one ratio to move (conversion, COGS, cycle time) and design one cheap test that isolates it.
- Retire wrong graphs — If the data contradicts your mental (f(x)), change the model, not only the slide.
Again: not advice—a drill some founders find useful.
Related in this repo
- Gameplay — how the curve and derivative drive platforms and stages.
- Math concepts & snippets — full curriculum notes aligned with levels.
- Engineering math — when “first principles” means circuits, structures, signals rather than a pitch deck.
In-game
Open Level select → Math tips & snippets (or Math concepts during a run). There is a dedicated section — First principles thinking (business) — with the same metaphors in short form, plus a pointer to this page on GitHub Pages.
The opening level “First Principles Primer” nudges this theme in its story banner so the name of the product ties to the method, not only to calculus vocabulary.
Educational framing only. Not affiliated with Tesla, SpaceX, X Corp, or any entity associated with Elon Musk.