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Good morning Launch Key 🚀community

Every week I touch on the absolute abundance of AI and free or inexpensive tools that can be used to start something you control. But that abundance is a double-edged sword.

Many times constraints are the things that lead to the biggest breakthroughs.

Let's get into it.

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Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

• Modern Tools

• Free Knowledge

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

Constraints, far from being barriers, are often the catalysts for remarkable ingenuity.

They force us to confront challenges head-on, pushing boundaries of what is possible and leading to outcomes that might never have emerged in a world without limits.

Constraint might just be the crazy aunt.

Limitations can often lead to breakthroughs. Sports stars shine bright through this lens.

• Micheal Jordan famously cut from his high school team becoming six time NBA Champion and five time MVP.

• Bethany Hamilton returning to professional surfing after losing her left arm to a shark attack.

• Nicki Lauda winning 2 World Championships after recovering from severe burns and lunge damage of a Formula One crash.

But its also true in creative ventures.

Constraints force designers to push boundaries, think differently, and create something not just good, but great. 

The minimalist movement was born out of the constraints of post-war resource scarcity. Designers like Dieter Rams took this to heart, distilling objects to their purest form and creating iconic pieces for Braun and Vitsœ.

His approach to design and his aesthetics influenced former Apple industrial designer Sir Jonathan Ive  and as a result many Apple products still pay tribute to Rams's work generations later.

Dr. Suess sold millions of books using very few words. He took a bet with his publisher and wrote Green Eggs and Ham only using 50 words.

Or Ernest Hemingway, who famously penned a six-word story.

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Six words. That’s it. Yet, within those six words lies a universe of emotion, narrative and implication. Hemingway's genius wasn’t in what he wrote, but in what he left out. The constraint of brevity forced him to craft something that resonated more deeply than pages of words ever could.

Solving problems with tight timelines, limited budgets, or the need to find a needle in a data haystack - allows business creativity to blossom.

It’s why I’ve always preferred small companies.

Self-funded businesses simply must find ways to make things work. They try new things. They find a way to differentiate. They solve problems the client couldn’t do themselves. And they stand out because of constraints.

Or they go out of business.

You don’t need an open checkbook or unlimited budget. You don’t need a 5-year time horizon. You don’t need a perfect tech stack.

Limitations can be the spark that ignites your most innovative ideas. Whether writing a novel, designing a product, or solving a complex problem, embracing constraints can lead to transformative solutions.

Now go launch something 🚀 

Modern Tools

Master ChatGPT for Work Success

ChatGPT is revolutionizing how we work, but most people barely scratch the surface. Subscribe to Mindstream for free and unlock 5 essential resources including templates, workflows, and expert strategies for 2025. Whether you're writing emails, analyzing data, or streamlining tasks, this bundle shows you exactly how to save hours every week.

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Free Knowledge

Creativity Loves Constraints essay from Shaan Puri: founder, investor, & creator of the My First Million podcast (over 25M+ downloads a year).

Recommendations

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📕 MGMT Playbook : Practical management insights straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

🤖 AI Report : Learn AI in 5 minutes a day. We'll teach you how to save time and earn more with AI. Join 400,000+ free daily readers from Tesla, Apple, A16z, Meta, & more.

Visual Crapshoot