DWFI framework

January 13, 2026

DWFI = Do What's Fucking Important

Backstory

I coined this phrase when I was 17-18 years old. This might be something that existed way before I came up with it, I have no idea.

But it basically goes like this. When doing startups, life or whatever, there is very often an obvious next step. Winning often comes from just doing that obvious step.

For me it usually went, and still goes like this a lot.

1. Love building products and developing.
2. Love chasing the shiny object.
3. Struggled with marketing and sales. Good at it when I do it, but the hot mermaid of building more features is laying on the reef and looking way too attractive for me to sail by.

So a lot of building and shiny object syndrome; diving after pearls hoping to find some, instead of just sailing the proven merchant route = failing.

If you proceed through life and startups with the "Do what's fucking important" framework your odds of winning will drastically increase.

It can often go like this.

What is our biggest problem?

This should really be answered in 5 seconds based on your gut feeling. A lot of founders like to bury this, but it goes something like this:

Is your revenue too low? Figure out sales. Is nobody you approach interested in the product? Figure out product or pivot.

For most founders it is the moments of most desperation when they actually turn their head the other way. When the pressure is the highest you procrastinate because you ignore the next obvious step. If you can overcome this you will win.

Instead of doing what you are good at you should just do what you need. Basically doing what is fucking important.

This principle can save 50% of dying startups.

Developer founders just want to develop. Sales founders just like their sales.

Most billion dollar startups are ridiculously simple. Airbnb's product could be replicated by a skilled 20 year old engineer in a week. Airbnb's business model is dead simple as well.

I am calling out myself because I fall victim to this: there are so many entrepreneurs thinking about some romantic grand plan that involves 5 different companies with 5 different products thinking they are going to become Wayne Industries or something when they barely have one proven product and are far from any substantial revenue.

If you ask yourself where the top 5 largest companies in the world get 95% of their revenue from, each one of those companies' dominant revenue stream can be summarized in one sentence or less.

Thinking that you are some "genius" trying to make out a grand strategy planning years ahead. While the only thing you really need to do is to get really good at the basics, stay the course and do what's fucking important.

So just do what's fucking important.