Find the Simplest Thing That Works
Original excerpt
Nivi: We’ve all seen the pictures of the Raptor engine for the SpaceX rockets, and if you look at the various iterations, they go from easy-to-vary to hard-to-vary. Because the most recent version just doesn’t have that many parts that you can fool around with.
The earlier versions have a million different parts where you could change the thickness of it, the width of it, the material, and so on. The current version barely has any parts left for you to do anything with.
Naval: There’s a theory in complexity theory that whenever you find a complex system working in nature, it’s usually the output of a very simple system or thing that was iterated over and over.
We’re seeing this lately in AI…
Frequently asked questions
What is "Find the Simplest Thing That Works" about?
This article by Naval Ravikant is part of the Naval Ravikant reading list on Burn 451, covering wealth & wisdom.
Who wrote "Find the Simplest Thing That Works"?
This piece is part of the Naval Ravikant vault on Burn 451, covering wealth & wisdom. The original author is attributed at the source link.
How can I read more content from Naval Ravikant?
The complete Naval Ravikant reading list is available at burn451.cloud/vault/naval-ravikant. Each article includes an AI-generated summary so you can decide what to read in seconds. Connect the Burn 451 MCP server to Claude or Cursor to query all Naval Ravikant articles as live AI context.
Can I use "Find the Simplest Thing That Works" with Claude or Cursor?
Yes. Install the burn-mcp-server npm package and connect it to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor. Once connected, your AI can search and reference this article and the full Naval Ravikant vault in real time — no manual copy-paste required.
22 more articles in this vault.
Import the full Naval Ravikant vault to Burn 451 and build your own knowledge base.
Content attributed to the original author. Burn 451 curates publicly available writing as a reading index. For removal requests, contact @hawking520.