What does first principles mean?

First Principles is a form of problem solving where you take your end objective and work backwards with a fundamental logic to solve the problem. Its an effective way to break down a complex problem into smaller & simpler components.

Here is a common example:

• Grow a company:
• This can be done either organically or inorganically
• If you choose inorganic then the idea will be to evaluate M&A targets
• If you choose organic then the idea will be to grow revenue
• Revenue growth can happen by selling more of the same product or same product with higher price
• If you want to sell more of the same product - you can sell it to your existing customers or new customers
• If you want to sell to new customers they can either be in the same geography or a new geography
• etc. etc.
• keeping chopping at it till you reach the end of the tree

A first principle is a basic proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption. It is something that is axiomatic. 

An example of a first principle (in consulting) is that more profit = better. 

I wish more people would be asking about this. 

Especially these days, it's the biggest thing you can do to distinguish your performance from that of others. 

I see Agrim provided a good answer already, but if you want to do deeper into this, I recently launched a masterclass on this. More about it here:

Masterclass: First Principle Structuring

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

Can you provide us a bit of context here? Where are you seeing this being referenced?