Boring, existing market, violent speed

What you choose to build may be the biggest determinant of your future outcome.

Silicon Valley worships market creation.

Few have the skill set to pull it off.

Don Muir, Co-Founder and CEO of Arc knew new‑market heroics weren’t his game.

As a former BCG consultant and PE investor, Don understood his strengths:

Process optimization, financial engineering, operational excellence, and speed of execution.

Or in his own words: "I wanted to maximize the controllable levers […] that I could just brute force execute very quickly.”

So he picked lending - huge, known, slow.

A market where he could win with better execution along technology, decision speed, and algorithmic underwriting.

"Some people reinvent the wheel and that's great. For me as a first-time founder, I wanted an execution-driven playbook." he said

By choosing not to innovate on market, Don could innovate on everything else - speed, service, technology, access.

Often, the biggest opportunities are created by serving an existing markets 10x better than anyone else.

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Enjoyed reading this?

Then check out my conversation on the focal podcast with Don Muir, Co-Founder and CEO of Arc (>$180M raised in debt and equity from YC, Bain, and Left Lane)

Youtube | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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