The 70% Solution
Act when you have enough information, then improve through market feedback
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
The 70% Solution replaces the impossible goal of complete readiness with an action threshold. Once the essential work is sound and roughly 70% of the needed information is available, take the next reversible step. A practical warning sign is edge-polishing: repeatedly adjusting a pitch, website, deck, or post without changing its core value. That behaviour often means fear has replaced useful preparation. Launching creates the feedback that private analysis cannot supply, so the remaining uncertainty is resolved through contact with the market. The cycle is simple: prepare enough, act, observe, and iterate. This preserves quality while preventing perfectionism from becoming a respectable-looking form of avoidance.
Origin
Kim Perell learned the idea from a Marine Corps general while starting her first company and has continued using it to counter her perfectionist tendencies.
Core principles
- 01Waiting for total certainty kills momentum
- 02Edge-polishing often disguises fear
- 03Real-world feedback beats private perfection
- 04Progress compounds through iteration
How to run it
- 1
Define the essential outcome
Identify what must work for the decision or launch to be useful. Separate those essentials from cosmetic details.
Pro tip Write down the smallest real-world result that would generate useful feedback.
Watch out Do not label missing safety, legal, or financial controls as cosmetic.
- 2
Assess information readiness
Check whether you have enough evidence to make a responsible, reversible move. Aim for informed readiness rather than certainty.
Pro tip Ask what additional fact would materially change the decision.
Watch out More research is justified when a missing fact could reverse the choice.
- 3
Detect edge-polishing
Notice when effort has shifted from the core proposition to minor wording, formatting, or presentation details. Treat that shift as a prompt to act.
Pro tip Set a short deadline once only edge work remains.
Watch out Perfectionism often sounds like quality control while producing no new evidence.
- 4
Take the reversible action
Put the offer, product, pitch, or decision in front of the smallest relevant real audience. Make the move large enough to produce a genuine response.
Pro tip Choose a test that is cheap to revise after feedback.
- 5
Iterate from evidence
Use the response to improve the next version rather than defending the first. Repeat the cycle until the result is strong enough to scale.
Pro tip Prioritize repeated customer signals over isolated opinions.
Watch out Do not mistake activity for progress; each iteration should answer a real question.
In the wild
Instead of waiting for national retail readiness, a beverage founder prepares a safe minimum product and sells it at a local farmers market. Buyers reveal whether they like the taste, understand the promise, and accept the price. The founder changes the next batch using those observations rather than continuing to perfect the product privately.
→ The founder obtains real demand, product, and pricing evidence before a costly rollout.
An entrepreneur has revised a pitch deck repeatedly but is now changing fonts and minor phrases. She sends it to five relevant prospects, records their objections, and rewrites the proposition around the two concerns that recur.
→ Market feedback replaces speculative polishing and produces a stronger pitch.
Common mistakes
Treating 70% as careless
The threshold means enough information for responsible action, not skipping essential validation or safeguards.
Polishing after the learning has stopped
Repeated cosmetic changes feel productive but delay the only step that can reveal what customers value.
Launching without an iteration loop
The method fails when a rough first release is treated as final rather than as an evidence-gathering step.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for reversible launches and decisions where feedback will reduce uncertainty.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for irreversible, safety-critical, or legally sensitive decisions that require a higher evidence threshold.
From the transcript
“in the Marines, they give the 70% solution, which is if you're 70% ready and you have enough information, 70% of the information to take…”
“It's just like put it out there and then iterate along the way because until it hits the market, you have no idea and it's…”
“I think it's when you start perfecting the edges,”
From the episode
Episode 499: Kim Perell: Building a $235M Company from the Kitchen Table + Why Perfectionism Kills Success
Kim Perell