First Principles Thinking

First principles thinking breaks down problems to their fundamental truths and rebuilds from there

What is it?

First principles thinking involves:

• Breaking complex problems into basic elements
• Questioning every assumption
• Rebuilding from verified fundamentals

Core Process

1. Identify and list assumptions
2. Break down into fundamental truths
3. Create new solutions from scratch

The key is to ask "Why?" repeatedly until you can't go any deeper

Examples in Practice

Tesla’s Battery Pack

• Instead of accepting market prices
• Broke down into raw materials
• Rebuilt manufacturing process
• Result: 56% cost reduction

SpaceX Rockets

• Traditional rocket cost: $65M
• Raw materials cost: ~$3M
• Built new supply chain
• Result: Reusable rockets at fraction of cost

Related Mental Models

• Feynman Technique
• SCAMPER Method
• Socratic Questioning

Toolkit

1. Questions to ask:
   • What are the fundamentals?
   • Which assumptions can I eliminate?
   • What’s the deepest layer of truth?
2. Implementation steps:
   • List all assumptions
   • Challenge each one
   • Find basic truths
   • Build up from there

Avoid letting existing knowledge prevent fresh thinking