Seven factors for choosing the right business to start

Executive overview

Most entrepreneurs pick markets that are too small, then exhaust themselves trying to dominate a tiny niche. The real lever is total addressable market (TAM): a small slice of a massive market beats a large slice of a small one.

Build on a big TAM, then stack an omnichannel marketing approach, a revenue-maximising funnel, and a feedback loop that drives lifetime value.

Go after a big TAM

• The biggest companies — Tesla, Microsoft, Google, Apple — all target enormous markets, not niches.
• 0.1% of a $10B market is $10M; dominating 30% of a niche rarely produces comparable returns.
• Marketing effort for a niche versus a large market is roughly equal — aim higher by default.
• A small audience exhausts ad frequency fast and drives up cost per acquisition.

Omnichannel marketing approach

• Use every channel that is profitable: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, email, SMS, SEO, paid ads.
• If a paid channel is profitable, keep running it regardless of personal preference.
• Diversification across channels reduces dependency on any single platform.

Build a funnel with upsells and downsells

• An upsell offers something more — a combo, an upgrade, a faster result.
• A downsell offers a lower-priced alternative when the customer declines the upsell.
• Speed and automation are the strongest upsell levers: "get results faster" or "done for you" consistently outperforms.
• The funnel's job is to increase revenue per transaction so you can afford more marketing spend.

Increase lifetime value

• Lifetime value (LTV) is how much a customer spends across all interactions, not just the first purchase.
• Recurring revenue doesn't require a subscription — repeat purchases from a trusted brand (Amazon model) achieve the same effect.
• Talk to customers directly: ask what's wrong, adjust the product, and loyalty follows.
• Higher LTV means you can outspend competitors on acquisition and still be profitable.

Finding passion through trial and error

• Most people don't discover their passion in advance — they stumble on it by trying many things.
• Skills you're naturally good at tend to become passions; the weak fits fall away on their own.
• The shortcut is rapid experimentation, not 10,000 hours in a single direction.