Naval Ravikant provides principles for wealth creation through entrepreneurship and leverage. Wealth is created through businesses and assets that earn income without constant work. The most important skills for wealth creation are reading, writing, arithmetic, persuasion, and computer programming. Entrepreneurs should find founder-product-market fit by pursuing their specific knowledge and building something that utilizes leverage at scale through the internet. Judgment, accountability, and developing wisdom over the long term are essential for accessing leverage that can multiply wealth.

1. How to Get Rich (without getting
lucky) - Naval Ravikant
Summary & Infographics by
Kyle Kowalski, @Slowwco
https://www.sloww.co/how-to-get-rich-naval-
ravikant/

2. Table of Contents
1. Money & Wealth 3. Leverage
Mythbusting Traditional Work
Wealth Creation
Compound Interest
Freedom & “Retirement”
Beyond Wealth
What is Leverage?
Forms of Leverage
Scale of the Internet
Accountability
Judgment
Wisdom
Specific Knowledge
2. Entrepreneurship 4. Important Skills
Entrepreneurship in a Nutshell
Founder-Product-Market Fit
Wealth as a Byproduct
Inspiration-Sprint-Rest Cycles
5 Most Important Skills
Learn to Sell, Learn to Build
Reading
Learning
Decision Making

3. Minimum Viable Principles for Wealth
Creation
• Wealth creation is a skillset anyone can
develop
• It’s merely a question of education and desire
• It is not about…
– penny-pinching your way to basic sustenance
– keeping expenses low, and
– maybe retiring early
• It is about wealth creation

4. Who is this for?
• Anybody who wants to be entrepreneurial
• Anybody who wants to control their own life
• Anybody who wants to deterministically and
reliably improve their ability to create wealth
over time
• Anybody who is patient and is looking at the long
haul
• Applies to almost everybody who has a complete
body, sound mind, and is looking to work.

5. 1. Money & Wealth

6. Mythbusting Traditional Work
• You’re not going to create wealth through ‘traditional’
work
– You’re not going to get rich renting out your time
– You can’t earn non-linearly
– Because your inputs are very closely tied to your
outputs
• Get a job, career, or profession where…
– Your inputs don’t match your outputs
– With higher the creativity component
– Use tools and leverage to disconnect inputs & outputs

7. Wealth Creation
• Wealth is businesses and assets that earn while
you sleep.
• Wealth is a very positive-sum game. Everybody
can be wealthy.
• Money is how we transfer wealth; It’s the ability
to have credits and debits of other people’s time.
• Money is not going to solve all of your problems;
but it’s going to solve all of your money problems.
• Ethical wealth creation is possible. Don’t despise
wealth

8. Compound Interest
• All the benefits in life come from compound
interests—relationships, wealth, learning,
reading, creating
• You’ll get paid on a long enough timescale
– 10 or 20 years. Sometimes five.
– Not generated in one giant payout or one big year
• So, enjoy it. Keep doing it & doing it & doing it

9. Freedom & “Retirement” (1)
You don’t have to… You can…
You don’t have to be any place you
don’t want to be
You can wake up when you want
You don’t have to do anything you
don’t want to do
You can sleep when you want
You don’t have a boss You are being your own sovereign
individual
This is the purpose of wealth!
• How to achieve this? Own equity - a piece of:
– a product, or
– a business, or
– some kind of IP

10. Freedom & “Retirement” (2)
• People who are living far below their means
enjoy a freedom that people busy upgrading
their lifestyles just can’t fathom.
• Maintain your freedom instead of upgrading
your lifestyle.
• You will have much more creative expression,
and it’s much less about money.

11. Beyond Wealth
• These cannot be bought. It must be earned. You
have to cultivate them.
• They can bring you a lot more peace and
happiness than any amount of money ever will.
3 things money cannot buy
A fit body A calm mind A house full of love
Health Mental health Close relationships

12. 2. Entrepreneurship

13. Entrepreneurship in a Nutshell
• Entrepreneurship is an act of:
– Creating something new from scratch
– Predicting that society will want it
– Figuring out how to scale it, and
– Get it to everybody in a profitable, self-sustaining way
Ask yourself: What am I really good at that the market values?
First variable: If you can find what
you are good at,
Second variable: If you can find what
the market values…
You’ll keep it up
You’ll develop the judgment
You’ll like to do it
Eventually people will give you the
resources
You won’t be afraid to take on
accountability

14. “Productize Yourself”
• You can get paid for just being you.
• Making money should be…
– a function of your identity, and
– what you like to do.
• If you are building and marketing something
that’s an extension of who you are, no one
can compete with you.

15. Founder-Product-Market Fit
• The combination of the three should be your
overwhelming goal ; It’s the most important
thing for any entrepreneur to find.
• If you find the fit, then you are naturally
inclined to build the right product for a
market
• It’s inevitable if you’re doing something…
– you love and
– the market wants it

16. 1. Founder (a)
• What am I obsessed with?
– Find things you’re good at, things you enjoy doing
– It’s like doing all of your hobbies for a living.
– Just keep an eye out to commercialize it.
• Where am I a natural? Is this authentic to me?
– Everyone is a natural at something. Pick things where
you are a natural. Double down on that.
– You can escape competition. Because no one can
compete with you on being you.

17. 1. Founder (b)
• Where is my unique combination/ intersection?
– There are probably multiple things you’re natural at;
you have different skillsets/ interests/ obsessions
– Take those things and combine them
– Through your sheer interest and enjoyment, end up
top 25% or top 10% or top 5%
• What feedback have I received from others?
– People (smart bosses, co-workers, investors) will
realize you are world-class in this one thing.
– They will push you towards that too

18. 2. Product (a)
• What should I create?
– Create something for yourself, because you want it
– “It feels like play to me, but it looks like work to others.”
• Ask yourself, what’s the product….
– that I’m excited to work on?
– that I know how to build it (specific knowledge)?
• Then, figure out
– Which one of those things you can provide for society that
it does not yet know how to get (but it will want)?
– How to get it to everyone?

19. 2. Product (b)
• How to decide what should I do? You should feel…
– “This is something I can be amazing at” [Be the best]
– “While still being authentic to who I am.” [Be authentic]
• How to become the best in the world at what you do?
– Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
– Your objective & skills should converge to make you #1
– Keep changing your objective until it arrives at your…
• specific knowledge,
• authentic skillsets,
• position and capabilities,
• location and interests.

20. 3. Market
• Pick an industry where you can play long-term
games with long-term people
Pick a business model where you can benefit from…
‘0’ Marginal cost Network effects Scale economies
Your product should’ve
zero/ low marginal costs
Each new user adds value
to the existing user base
Get paid at scale;
Scale with labor/ capital/
code/ media
Ex. Tech/ media products -
where creating another
copy (reproduction) is free
Always think about how
your users/ customers can
add value to each other
Figure out how to scale it
so everybody can have one

21. Wealth as a Byproduct
• Society will pay you for creating things that it
wants. At scale.
• But don’t be too goal-oriented on money.
• Then…
– you won’t pick the right thing,
– you won’t pick the thing that you love to do,
– so you won’t go deep enough into it.

22. Inspiration-Sprint-Rest Cycles (a)
Work effectively by building
a marathon of sprints
Inspiration
SprintRest
• Be impatient with actions, patient with results
• Inspiration is perishable. So when you’ve
inspiration, act on it right then and there.

23. Inspiration-Sprint-Rest Cycles (b)
• Nobody really works or can work for 80 to 120
hours a week at high output, with mental
clarity.
– Your brain breaks down.
– You won’t have good ideas.
Do not have Aim to have
A busy calendar Enough free time
A busy mind A free mind
A cluttered calendar A very clean calendar
Do coffee meetings Have (almost) no meetings

24. 3. Leverage

25. What is Leverage?
• We are now living in an age of nearly infinite
leverage
• To get rich, you’re going to need leverage.
Technology leverage Business leverage
Technology drives leverage 1. People
Technology helps to mass produce or
create efficiently
2. Capital
To figure out how to commercialize it,
and to make it available to everybody.
3. Products with no marginal cost of
replication (code and media)

26. Labour leverage Capital leverage Code/ Media leverage
Permission-based Permission-based Permission-less
Oldest & the worst form of
leverage
Powerful form of leverage The most interesting & the most
important leverage
It’s the people working for
you
Can be converted to labor
and other things
Products have no marginal cost
of replication
Have the minimum
amount of people working
with you
Somebody has to give you
money to invest or to turn
into a product.
You can multiply your
efforts without other humans
and without money
So that you can use the
other forms of leverage
To raise money, apply your
specific knowledge, with
accountability, & show
resulting good judgment.
If you can’t code, write books &
blogs, record videos & podcasts.
You don’t need anyone’s
permission to do them.
Forms of Leverage

27. Scale of the Internet
• Internet connects every human to each other on the planet
– You can now reach anyone and everyone
– You can find your audience
• Through the internet, just by uniquely expressing yourself , you can:
– build a business,
– create a product,
– build wealth, and
– make people happy….
• The internet enables any niche interest, as long as you’re the best
at it to scale out.
• And the great news is because every human is different, everyone is
the best at something. Being themselves.

28. Accountability
• Accountability is important because that’s how you’re going
to:
– get leverage
– get credibility
– get equity/ a piece of the business.
• Accountability is to:
– Put your skin in the game
– Put your personal reputation on the line
• If you take on accountability…
– People will line up behind you.
– Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage.
• Accountability is something you can take on
immediately. Judgment and leverage tend to come later.

29. Judgment
• In an age of infinite leverage, judgment becomes
the most important skill.
– Leverage is a force multiplier for your judgement.
– Leverage is something that society gives you after
you’ve demonstrated judgment.
• Get it faster by learning high-leverage and
foundational skills (e.g. permissionless leverage)
• Judgement requires experience
– Put yourself in positions where you can exercise
judgment
– That will come from taking on accountability.

30. Wisdom
• Wisdom is…
– knowing the long-term consequences of your
actions, and
– then making the right decision to capitalize on
that.
• Wisdom is just judgment on a personal
domain.
• The longer your time horizon, the wiser you’re
going to seem to everybody around you.

31. Specific Knowledge (a)
• Specific knowledge is knowledge that…
– you cannot be trained for,
– it cannot be outsourced or automated
– often highly technical or creative
• Specific knowledge are…
– Things you enjoy doing or are naturally inclined doing
– It will feel like play to you but will look like work to others.
• Two forms of specific knowledge:
– Timeless specific knowledge usually can’t be taught, and it
sticks with you forever.
– Timely specific knowledge comes and goes; but it tends to
have a fairly long shelf life.

32. Specific Knowledge (b)
• How to find your specific knowledge?
– pursuing your innate talents,
– your genuine curiosity, and
– your passion
• It can only be built as part of a…
– larger obsession,
– interest, and
– time spent in that domain
• It can be found by observation…
– Look back on your own life and
– See what you’re actually good at.

33. Important Skills

34. 5 Most Important Skills
1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Arithmetic
4. Persuasion (which is talking)
5. Computer Programming (an applied form of
arithmetic that just gets you so much
leverage for free in any domain that you
operate in)

35. Learn to Sell, Learn to Build
• If you can do both….
– You will be unstoppable.
– It is the ultimate.
– That’s when you get true superpowers.
– That’s when you get people who can create entire
industries.

36. Reading
• Learn to educate yourself by reading
• Read what you love until you love to read.
• The internet has put world’s knowledge at
your fingertips
• The means of education/ learning are
abundant. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.
• Cultivate the desire to learn.

37. Learning
• How to learn faster?
– It’s no. of iterations that drives the learning curve. So,
• Have more iterations
• Take the more shots
– It’s not just about the hours put in
• Study microeconomics, game theory, psychology,
persuasion, ethics, mathematics, and computers
Understand
Logic &
Mathematics
Understand
Scientific
method
Separate false
from truth (in
any field)
Focus on the Foundations:

38. Decision Making
• Reject most advice. But….
– listen to enough of it,
– read enough of it,
– to know what to reject and what to accept.
• The best founders I know read and listen to
everyone. But then they ignore everyone and
make up their own mind.
• Have your own point of view.

39. Further Reading
• Naval’s original tweetstorm:
https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936
• Podcast - Every episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TZqOsVCNM
• Podcast transcript: https://nav.al/rich
• Summary by Sloww’s article: https://www.sloww.co/how-to-get-rich-naval-
ravikant/
• Whimsical’s mindmap: https://whimsical.com/BGVa2B1emjcVfkpHRpDNgB
• Summary by Consultant's Mind:
https://www.consultantsmind.com/2019/06/27/naval-ravikant/
• Summary by Broc Pacholik: https://brocpacholik.com/naval-ravikant-how-to-get-
rich-summary/
• A PDF Summary: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1186/0402/files/HOW-TO-GET-
RICH.pdf
• WP-ERP Summary: https://wperp.com/32125/get-rich-without-being-lucky/
• Naval on Joe Rogan Podcast - Naval Ravikant's Principles of Wealth Creation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oNcoj4G0xc

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Twitter: @sathyanand1985
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