Cheap, Fast, Good, Pick Two

In the process of having all of the details in place properly and launching Combray, I have continually thought (and repeated) something I first heard in a Tom Waits interview. He said he heard it from Jim Jarmusch. You can call it something like the

1st Law of Getting Things Done: Cheap, Fast, Good, pick 2.

Run through some examples -

If you want something cheap and good, you can't have it fast.

Like homegrown vegetables. Best and cheapest requires you to spend a lot of time in the garden. It took us a year to find the right bottle since we wanted the best quality, but we didn't want to necessarily buy 50,000 to begin with. So, finally we found Verreries Brosse in France, who did the first Chanel #5 bottle. Really good, not so expensive (overall, still quite expensive for each), but it took a long time for us to find them.

If you want something Fast and Good, it won't be cheap.

Optimizing advertising, like Cost per Click advertising (those ads on the right of the Google searches) for example. If you want to know quickly how to find the right customers, it will cost you, one way or another, which is why I am glad we are in no hurry. Luckily our organic solar cell materials business is doing well.

If you need something Fast and Cheap, it probably won't be good.

Like fast food, having a house built, Vegas weddings, getting your car repaired,...

I haven't seen it fail yet. Trying to break this law will only bring you tears in the end.