Dave Chong

Core Beliefs & Principles

| Orientation | by Dave Chong

The Axioms of the System

Every complex system, whether it is a Euclidean geometry or a billion-dollar corporation, is built upon a set of axioms—fundamental truths that are accepted without proof.

If you disagree with the axioms, you will likely disagree with the entire system derived from them.

These are the axioms that govern my thinking, my businesses, and my life.

1. Systems Beat Talent

Talent is volatile. It has good days and bad days. It gets sick. It gets poached. It has an ego. A system is consistent. A mediocre team with a world-class system will consistently beat a world-class team with a broken system.

  • Corollary: Do not look for a savior. Build a machine.

2. Speed is a Feature

In the age of AI and global connectivity, slowness is a death sentence. The cost of moving fast is mistakes. The cost of moving slow is irrelevance. I will always choose the risk of a reversible mistake over the certainty of stagnation.

  • Corollary: Perfect is the enemy of done. Ship it.

3. Reality is the Final Arbiter

Your feelings do not matter to the market. Your “vision” does not matter to the compiler. The only thing that matters is reality. Does the product work? Did the customer pay? Did the code run? We must be ruthlessly honest with ourselves about the data. We must negotiate with reality, not our ego.

  • Corollary: Feedback is fuel, not an attack.

4. Clarity is Kindness

Ambiguity creates anxiety. In leadership, being “nice” often means hiding the hard truth. That is actually selfish—you are protecting your own feelings, not the other person’s growth. Being clear—about expectations, about failure, about standards—is the kindest thing you can do.

  • Corollary: Say exactly what you mean.

5. Leverage is the Goal

We all have 24 hours. The difference between the billionaire and the beggar is not effort; it is leverage. Leverage comes in three forms:

  1. Labor: People working for you.
  2. Capital: Money working for you.
  3. Code/Media: Machines/Content working for you (Permissionless Leverage). My focus is always on type 3.
  • Corollary: Automation is not lazy. It is intelligent.

6. The Long Game Wins

Short-term optimizations often create long-term debt. Selling a bad product hits this quarter’s numbers but kills next year’s brand. Writing messy code ships the feature today but kills velocity next month. I play games that compound.

  • Corollary: If you wouldn’t work with them for 10 years, don’t work with them for 10 minutes.

These are not just slogans. They are the filtering algorithms for every decision I make. When I am stuck, I return to these.