Ali Abdaal: Starting Fast Beats Perfect Planning
aliabdaal Speed is the goal when it comes to starting a business. That's what I learned at an event I was at,...
The frame freezes on a guy in a plain T‑shirt, washed‑out background, giant yellow words screaming BROKEST PERSON across his chest. That one image says more about starting a business than a 40‑page pitch deck. It is not polished. It is not fancy. It is someone admitting, I am not the millionaire in the room…but I’m moving. That is bias to action beating perfect planning in a single screenshot.
The Psychology Behind It
By labeling himself the brokest person in the room, the creator lowers the bar for the viewer. If the least successful person there is preaching speed, you lose the excuse of “I’ll start when everything’s ready.” The grainy, low-production feel reinforces that the reel itself is an example of bias to action: shoot, post, learn, repeat. That visual story makes you ask a painful but useful question: if the brokest person is shipping, why am I still planning?
Why this image sells action, not perfection
- Monochrome background plus neon yellow text creates a punch-in-the-face contrast you cannot scroll past.
- The phrase BROKEST PERSON is raw, self-deprecating, and instantly relatable to anyone not at $10M yet.
- Hands mid-gesture at a cheap-looking table signal casual, in-progress vibes: this is a work-in-progress human, not a finished product.
Real-world proof that bias to action wins
Amazon launched as a bare-bones online bookstore and iterated features in public, proving that shipping fast can compound into a trillion-dollar business.
Dropbox famously validated demand with a simple explainer video before building the full product, showing that action can test ideas faster than specs ever will.
Shopify began as a scrappy snowboard shop that hacked together its own cart, then turned that working hack into the platform millions now use.