TP-05 CEM Technical Papers Technical Paper

The 80% Premise

Why "done enough" beats "done perfectly"

How deliberate incompleteness creates competitive advantage. Ship functional. Not perfect. The economics of 'done enough.'

Solo Operators · Founders

80%

Scope target per product

5 days

Fastest zero-to-production

100%

Velocity maintained

The Problem

Software culture valorizes completeness. Ship when it's done. Polish before release. Cover every edge case. This perfectionism systematically destroys competitive advantage. The 80% Premise inverts this: start with existing market solutions, identify the 80% of features that define the category, execute at full velocity, ship while competitors polish. The reporting platform shipped in 5 days because 'done' meant 'functional and revenue-ready' — not 'feature-complete by enterprise standards.'

What This Establishes

Deliberate incompleteness is strategic.

80% scope at 100% velocity beats 100% scope at 70% velocity. The market rewards presence, not perfection.

The remaining 20% is earned, not guessed.

Post-ship iteration is driven by real market feedback. Features added after launch are validated by actual usage — not by pre-launch speculation.

This only works with infrastructure.

The 80% Premise is not 'cut corners.' It's enabled by Foundation and Scaffold — the infrastructure handles the 80% of features that are category-standard, freeing execution for the 20% that differentiates.

Validated by these builds

CS-02 Five Days to Production

Key Data

Theoretical basis Pareto principle

Scope target 80% of category-defining features

Fastest MVP shipped 5 days (Go Customer Reports)

Revenue-ready at ship Yes, all 10 systems

Iteration source Market feedback, not guessing

Rework from over-scope Eliminated by design

Competitive advantage Presence over perfection

Portfolio applications 10 of 10 systems