If you recently graduated, left your job, exited a company or feel burned out, you've probably been thinking "what's next?". Most people live through this stage at least a few times. In building a startup we often talk about going from [[0 to 1]]. There is also a process before that, focused on what to build or not to build. [South Park Commons](https://www.southparkcommons.com/) is a space for people in that process, and they call it -1 to 0. -1 to 0 means figuring out what's next. It is for those deciding where to spend the next 5-10 years of their lives. ![[-1 to 0 2025-12-09 20.11.18.excalidraw]] -1 to 0 means taking every thing that you could do and distilling it into what you will do. ![[Generated Image December 09, 2025 - 4_03PM 1.jpeg]] > _"You can do anything, but not everything"_ — David Allen - -1 to 0 is deciding where to spend the next 5-10 years of your life - -1 to 0 is taking every idea you could do and finding what you will do (cool visual? need design guide prompt for nano banana for essays) - "you can do anything but not everything" - would love a number on how important it can be to think about what you do - like how much time is wasted chasing bad ideas or something like that The squiggle is the process of -1 to 0 ![[Pasted image 20251209160725.png]] [^3] - You will probably go through many -1 to 0 in a lifetime - if 0 to 1 is product market fit, -1 to 0 is founder market fit -1 to 0 doesnt always end up in starting companies but.. All below is related to building venture-scale companies. Would like to write something similar that is for normal people figuring out what to do in life. Problems - Choice paralysis - The more talented you are the easier you can see every path as viable. More talent can give even more choice paralysis - Overwhelming - you can feel behind others because you are kind of starting over - Isolating - in the end, conviction is built alone. For many it is isolating. You should try to find a high [[Talent density]] community though - startups is not a new thing - there are less low-hanging fruits in tech than there have been. however AI is making a lot more low-hanging fruits (though these are more competitive than ever) - many founders neglect the -1 to 0 process and end up having to do it anyway but in a much more stressful environment. you can see that since many startups pivot - it's like doing -1 to 0 on a short runway. the further you get in your -1 to 0 process, the easier 0 to 1 will be. Process - The end goal is getting to 0. You do so by building conviction. You have conviction if you can bet the next 5 years of your life on the idea and it fails, and you would still feel good about the bet. Conviction is built alone, with data from others. [[Conviction]] [^1][^2][^4] [^1]: South Park Commons. 2025. “The Case for Talent Density in -1 to 0.” January 27. [https://blog.southparkcommons.com/case-for-talent-density-minus-one/](https://blog.southparkcommons.com/case-for-talent-density-minus-one/). [[CaseTalentDensity2025|Annotations]] [^2]: South Park Commons. 2017. “How I Made the Switch to AI Research.” August 3. [https://blog.southparkcommons.com/how-i-made-the-switch-to-ai-research/](https://blog.southparkcommons.com/how-i-made-the-switch-to-ai-research/). [[HowMadeSwitch2017|Annotations]] [^3]: South Park Commons. 2023. “What Is -1 to 0? A Philosophy of Ideation.” October 11. [https://blog.southparkcommons.com/what-is-negative-1-to-0/](https://blog.southparkcommons.com/what-is-negative-1-to-0/). [[What102023|Annotations]] [^4]: South Park Commons. 2024. “How to Go from -1 to 0.” January 31. [https://blog.southparkcommons.com/how-to-go-from-minus-1-to-0/](https://blog.southparkcommons.com/how-to-go-from-minus-1-to-0/). [[HowGo12024|Annotations]]