Flywheels

Why create a flywheel?

A flywheel is just a tool for you and your team to identify and align on which parts of the business matter most. Of all of the things that you can work on, which investments accelerate your flywheel, and which investments don’t matter?

Uber Example:

Start with a list

How do you begin? I‘d start with a list:

What are the core assets of your business? e.g. cars, content, hardware devices
What are the core actions users take? e.g. signing up, inviting friends, purchasing
What are the core needs of your users? e.g. something to watch, a ride, discounts
What are the natural outputs of your business? e.g. content, revenue, invention
What are the biggest optimizations to your business model? e.g. lower costs, better data

Look at this list and find items that directly drive another item. See if you can create a loop that connects a handful of these. It’s totally fine if it’s messy and random at first.

As inspiration, look back at our Uber example:

More drivers (asset) leads to more coverage (optimization)
More coverage (optimization) leads to faster pickups (need)
Faster pickups (need) leads to more riders (asset)
More coverage also leads to less downtime (optimization)
And less downtime leads to lower prices (need)

Play around with your list and see if anything interesting emerges

Alternatively, look at past success and failures

Create a list of significant replicable successes your company has achieved
Compile a list of failures and disappointments
Compare the successes to the disappointments and ask, “What do these successes and disappointments tell us about the possible components of our flywheel?”
Using the components you’ve identified (keeping them to four to six), sketch the flywheel
If you have more than six components, you’re making it too complicated; consolidate and simplify to capture the essence of the flywheel
Test the flywheel against your list of successes and disappointments
Test the flywheel against the three circles of your Hedgehog Concept