Relaxing Constraints: The Practice That Differentiates Great Founders
Howard Morgan, co-founder of First Round Capital, argues that great founders distinguish themselves through the deliberate practice of relaxing constraints rather than accepting current limitations. Morgan identifies four major constraint categories—technical, cost, market, and organizational—and provides a framework for founders to think beyond present capabilities to build for the future.
Metrics in this report
5700books
cumulative over 30 years
personal knowledge accumulation practice
56kbps
typical consumer speed
dial-up internet access in 1996-2000
1.5Mbps
T1 connection speed
top universities and research institutions when building Internet at CERN
1 trillionrecords per second
processing capability
database demo 46 years after ARPAnet node deployment
hundredsMbps
required for rich mobile applications
GPS and data-intensive mobile apps