In 1997, Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy.
The company that had once revolutionized personal computing was drowning in its own complexity. Apple made computers, printers, digital cameras, CD players, monitors, modems, scanners, and dozens of other products. They had twelve different types of Macintosh computers alone. Their product matrix looked like a tech museum’s inventory list.
Then Steve Jobs returned.
His first executive meeting as interim CEO has become the stuff of Silicon Valley legend. Jobs walked into a conference room filled with product managers, each clutching binders full of specifications, roadmaps, and market analyses. They were prepared to defend their products, to explain why each one was essential to Apple’s future.
Jobs didn’t want explanations. He wanted a whiteboard.
He drew a simple two-by-two grid. Across the top: "Consumer" and "Pro." Down the side: "Desktop" and "Portable." Four squares. Four products.
"This is our new product line," he announced. "Everything else goes."
The room erupted. Product managers pleaded. Engineers protested. How could Apple survive by making fewer products? How could they compete by doing less? The Newton MessagePad alone had cost $100 million to develop. The QuickTake digital camera line was growing. The printer division employed hundreds.
Jobs was unmoved. Within months, he killed 70% of Apple’s products.
What happened next changed business forever. By saying no to good ideas, Apple created space for genius. By eliminating distractions, they found focus. By doing less, they achieved more. Apple went from near-bankruptcy to becoming the world’s most valuable company—not by addition, but by subtraction.
This is the power of what you don’t make.
The No That Launched a Thousand Ships
Every business leader talks about focus. Few understand what it actually means. Focus isn’t about working harder on your priorities. It’s about having fewer priorities. It’s not about doing your best work. It’s about doing only your best work.
Jobs understood this at a molecular level. In a 1997 speech to Apple employees, he said something that should be carved into the walls of every company: "Focus is about saying no to the hundred other good ideas. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done."
Think about that. Pride in what you haven’t done. In a culture that celebrates creation, accumulation, and growth, Jobs found strength in rejection, elimination, and restraint.
This wasn’t just philosophy. It was strategy. Every no created space for a better yes. Every killed product freed resources for innovation. Every subtraction multiplied impact.
Consider what Apple doesn’t make: - Televisions (despite decades of rumors) - Gaming consoles (despite having the technology) - Enterprise servers (despite business demand) - Hundreds of iPhone models (despite market segmentation) - Printers (anymore) - Routers (anymore) - Displays (anymore)
Each absence is intentional. Each no is strategic. While competitors flood the market with dozens of phone models at every price point, Apple makes three. While Samsung makes refrigerators, washing machines, and military equipment alongside phones, Apple stays focused.
The result? Apple captures the majority of the entire smartphone industry’s profits with a minority of market share. They achieve maximum impact through minimum products.
Carlos and the Consulting Paradox
Carlos ran a successful consulting firm. At least, it looked successful.
Twenty-three employees. Offices in three cities. An impressive client list. They offered everything: strategy consulting, operational improvement, digital transformation, change management, leadership training, market research, and a dozen other services. Their website proudly proclaimed: "Whatever your business challenge, we have the solution."
They had solutions, all right. They just weren’t making money.
"I was working eighty-hour weeks and barely breaking even," Carlos told me from his Miami office—now his only office. "We were spread so thin that we were mediocre at everything. Clients hired us because we were convenient, not because we were excellent. We competed on price because we couldn’t compete on expertise."
The breaking point came when Carlos lost a million-dollar contract to a boutique firm one-tenth his size. The client’s feedback stung: "You guys are generalists. We need specialists."
That night, Carlos made a list of every service his firm offered. Twenty-three services. Then he made another list—the services that actually made money. Three services. The contrast was stark.
He spent the next month analyzing every project from the past three years. The pattern was undeniable. Eighty percent of profits came from just three services: post-merger integration, supply chain optimization, and operational due diligence. Everything else was noise.
The 80% Solution
What Carlos did next required courage most business owners lack: he fired 80% of his services. And 60% of his clients.
"My partners thought I’d lost my mind," Carlos recalls. "We had a board meeting that nearly ended in a fistfight. How could cutting revenue by 60% possibly be a good strategy?"
But Carlos had seen something others missed. By trying to be everything to everyone, they had become nothing to anyone. By offering every service, they had mastered none. By saying yes to every opportunity, they had said no to excellence.
The transformation began immediately. Instead of twenty-three services, they offered three. Instead of a generic "we solve business problems" pitch, they had laser focus: "We help private equity firms maximize post-merger value through operational excellence."
Instead of competing with every consulting firm in existence, they competed in a narrow niche where they could dominate. Instead of being adequate at many things, they became exceptional at few things.
The website changed from "Whatever your challenge" to "Three things. Done right." The elevator pitch went from two minutes of rambling to ten seconds of clarity. The sales process transformed from begging to choosing.
Within six months, revenues were back to previous levels—with 40% fewer people and 20% fewer hours. Within a year, revenues had doubled. Within three years, they had tripled.
"The math seems impossible until you live it," Carlos explains. "When you do fewer things, you do them better. When you do them better, you can charge more. When you charge more, you need fewer clients. When you need fewer clients, you can choose better clients. It’s a virtuous cycle that starts with subtraction."
The Psychology of No
Why is saying no so hard? Why do companies reflexively add products, services, and features? Why does subtraction feel like surrender?
The answer lies in how our brains are wired. Dr. Leidy Klotz, a professor at the University of Virginia, spent years studying why humans struggle with subtraction. His research reveals a startling truth: when presented with a problem, people default to adding elements rather than removing them, even when subtraction is the better solution.
In one experiment, participants were asked to improve a Lego structure. Only 12% thought to remove pieces; 88% only added. In another, people were asked to improve an essay. Most added words; few thought to cut. Even when researchers explicitly reminded participants that removing elements was an option, addition still dominated.
This cognitive bias toward addition is deeply rooted. Throughout human history, having more resources generally meant better survival odds. More food, more tools, more shelter—more meant safety. Our brains are literally wired to acquire and accumulate.
But what served us on the savanna sabotages us in the marketplace. In a world of infinite options, addition leads to dilution. In a world of finite attention, expansion leads to invisibility. In a world that rewards expertise, generalization leads to commoditization.
The companies that thrive understand this paradox. They fight their biological instincts. They resist the gravitational pull of more. They understand that in modern markets, subtraction is the new addition.
The Art of Strategic Elimination
Saying no isn’t enough. You need to say the right nos. Strategic elimination isn’t about randomly cutting products or services. It’s about understanding what to keep and what to kill. Here’s the framework that separates strategic subtraction from reckless reduction:
The Excellence Filter Can you be world-class at this? Not good. Not competitive. World-class. If the answer is no, it’s a candidate for elimination. Apple could make a decent television. But could they revolutionize television the way they revolutionized phones? When the answer was unclear, they said no.
The Synergy Test Does this strengthen your core or distract from it? Every product or service either reinforces your main value proposition or dilutes it. Carlos kept supply chain optimization because it enhanced post-merger integration. He killed leadership training because it pulled focus.
The Opportunity Cost Calculator What could you achieve if you redirected these resources? Every yes carries the hidden cost of a thousand nos. When Apple killed the Newton, they freed engineers to work on the iPhone. When Carlos killed marginal services, he freed consultants to become experts.
The Complexity Tax How much hidden cost does this create? Every additional product or service adds complexity—to operations, marketing, sales, support. This complexity tax is often invisible but always expensive. Jobs didn’t just kill products; he killed complexity.
The Multiplication Effect
Here’s what most people miss about subtraction: it’s not about having less. It’s about achieving more with less. When you subtract strategically, something magical happens. Instead of dividing your impact, you multiply it.
Jennifer discovered this when she transformed her digital marketing agency. For five years, she’d offered every possible service: SEO, social media, content marketing, email marketing, PPC, web design, video production, influencer outreach. Her team of fifteen was constantly overwhelmed, constantly learning new platforms, constantly playing catch-up.
"We were a mile wide and an inch deep," Jennifer recalls. "We could do everything, but we couldn’t do anything exceptionally well. Our clients saw us as vendors, not partners. We competed on price because we couldn’t compete on expertise."
The revelation came during a client review. Her biggest client said something that changed everything: "You guys do good work across the board. But when I need exceptional email marketing, I go to EmailExperts. They only do email, but they’re the best in the world at it."
Jennifer went back to her office and pulled three years of data. The analysis was eye-opening. Email marketing was only 15% of their services but generated 40% of their profit. More important, it had the highest client satisfaction scores and the longest retention rates.
The decision was obvious once she saw it. Jennifer announced they were becoming email marketing specialists. Only email. Nothing else.
Half her team quit within a month. Several clients left. Revenue dropped 50% overnight. "It was the scariest three months of my professional life," she admits.
But then the multiplication effect kicked in. By focusing solely on email marketing, her remaining team became experts faster. They developed proprietary methodologies. They built better tools. They achieved better results.
Word spread. Companies that needed world-class email marketing found them. Instead of competing with thousands of "full-service" agencies, they competed with dozens of email specialists. Instead of being compared on price, they were evaluated on expertise.
Eighteen months later, Jennifer’s smaller team was generating twice the revenue of her previous larger team. They worked with better clients on more interesting projects for higher fees. The multiplication effect had transformed subtraction into abundance.
The No Portfolio
The most successful companies don’t just have a product portfolio. They have a "no portfolio"—a carefully curated list of opportunities they’ve consciously rejected. These nos define them as much as their yeses.
Amazon doesn’t make smartphones (despite having tablets). Netflix doesn’t do live sports (despite user demand). In-N-Out doesn’t franchise (despite massive opportunity). Trader Joe’s doesn’t do online grocery (despite market pressure). Patagonia doesn’t make fast fashion (despite profit potential).
Each no represents a choice. Each rejection reinforces focus. Each absence amplifies presence.
Raj built his entire business model on strategic nos. As a freelance software developer, he faced the same challenge every freelancer knows: clients who wanted everything.
"Can you also do the design?" "Can you handle the hosting?" "Can you manage our social media?" "Can you train our team?"
For years, Raj said yes to everything. He became a one-man digital agency, juggling design, development, hosting, maintenance, training, and consulting. He was making money but losing his mind.
"I was mediocre at six things instead of excellent at one," Raj explains. "I spent more time switching contexts than actually coding. I was a developer who barely developed."
Raj made a list of every service he offered. Then he crossed out everything except custom API development. That’s it. No design. No hosting. No maintenance. Just APIs.
His income dropped 40% in three months. But something interesting happened. Because Raj only did APIs, he got really good at APIs. Because he got really good, developers started recommending him. Because developers recommended him, he could charge premium rates.
Within a year, Raj was earning twice his previous income working half the hours. He had replaced quantity with quality, breadth with depth, adequacy with excellence.
"My entire business model is built on what I don’t do," Raj says. "Every client knows exactly what they’ll get and exactly what they won’t. There’s power in that clarity."
The Courage to Cut
Let’s be honest: subtraction is scary. Cutting products feels like retreat. Eliminating services seems like surrender. Saying no sounds like failure.
This fear is rational. In the short term, subtraction often means: - Lower revenue - Lost clients - Departed employees - Market confusion - Competitive criticism
But here’s what the fearful miss: these short-term costs are investments in long-term dominance. Every company that achieved excellence through subtraction faced the same valley of doubt.
When Jobs killed 70% of Apple’s products, the media mocked him. "How can Apple compete by doing less?" they asked. Twenty-five years later, we have the answer.
When Carlos cut 80% of his services, his partners nearly revolted. Three years later, they were thanking him for their tripled valuations.
When Jennifer became an email-only agency, her peers called her crazy. Today, they send her referrals.
The courage to cut is the courage to choose excellence over adequacy, focus over spread, depth over breadth. It’s the courage to believe that better beats more.
Your Subtraction Strategy
Look at your company, your career, your commitments. Where are you trying to be Apple circa 1997—making everything for everyone? Where could you be Apple circa 2024—making few things for many?
Here’s how to start:
1. The Profit Analysis List every product, service, or activity. Calculate the true profit (including time cost) of each. You’ll likely find that 80% of profit comes from 20% of activities. That 20% is your core. Everything else is a candidate for cutting.
2. The Excellence Audit For each offering, ask: "Can we be world-class at this?" Be honest. World-class means top 10% in your market. If you can’t reach excellence, you’re wasting resources that could fuel something exceptional.
3. The Complexity Calculator Measure the hidden costs of variety. How much time do you spend switching contexts? How much energy goes to maintaining mediocre offerings? How much opportunity cost accumulates from spreading thin?
4. The Fear Inventory What’s really stopping you from cutting? Fear of revenue loss? Fear of criticism? Fear of irrelevance? Name the fears. Then calculate the cost of keeping them versus the potential of facing them.
5. The Vision Exercise Imagine your business or career with 80% fewer offerings but 300% better execution. What would that look like? Who would you serve? How would you compete? What would become possible?
The Ultimate Competitive Advantage
In a world where everyone can add, the ability to subtract is a superpower. While your competitors exhaust themselves trying to be everything, you can dominate by being something. While they spread thin, you can go deep. While they offer adequacy across the board, you can deliver excellence in focused areas.
This isn’t about thinking small. It’s about achieving big through small. It’s about understanding that in modern markets, the companies that do less often achieve more.
Steve Jobs didn’t save Apple by out-innovating the competition. He saved it by out-focusing them. He understood that what you don’t make is as important as what you do make. He knew that every no creates space for a better yes.
Carlos didn’t transform his consulting firm by working harder. He transformed it by working narrower. He discovered that expertise beats variety, that depth beats breadth, that excellence beats adequacy.
The path to extraordinary results isn’t through addition—it’s through subtraction. The key to competitive advantage isn’t doing more—it’s doing less, better.
So here’s the question: What are you making that you shouldn’t? What are you offering that dilutes your excellence? What good ideas are preventing your great ones?
The answers might require courage. The process might involve pain. The journey might demand faith.
But on the other side of subtraction lies something powerful: the freedom to be exceptional at what remains.
Your competitors are adding.
What will you subtract?