Good morning. Growth isn’t always about what you add. It’s about what you remove. In this issue, we’re digging into the discipline of strategic subtraction: how cutting meetings and bad-fit opportunities can actually accelerate your business.
Plus, you’ll discover the latest signals from the U.S. economy, what Palantir’s AI surge means for your roadmap, and why Series A rounds are getting harder to win.
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.
BUSINESS PULSE
Economy: July’s U.S. labor report brought major revisions: previous months were downgraded significantly, and July posted a mere 73,000 jobs added. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% and wage growth is slowing. This triggered a sharp sell‑off in markets and pushed the odds of a Fed rate cut in September to around 80%.
What it means to you: Expect tighter demand and sluggish hiring in the months ahead. Prioritize efficiency and protect margins before opportunities reappear.
Source: Axios
AI: Palantir boosted its full-year U.S. revenue outlook to over $1.3 billion, citing growing enterprise demand for its AI-powered platforms. Its strong Q2 earnings reinforce enterprise trust in operational AI software.
What it means to you: Business AI adoption is real and paying off. If you're building or using tools, focus on practical ROI and operations-first integrations.
Source: Reuters
Startups: Crunchbase data shows only ~11% of startups between 2020–2025 reached Series A and just 2.8% from the 2024 cohort. Fundraising now leans heavily on bridge rounds, with AI-native startups raising capital using lower-cost models. Many early-stage founders pivot to operational AI to stay attractive.
What it means to you: If you're pre-Series A, focus on unit economics and product efficiency, not just growth. Investors favor startups that show capital-light momentum.
Source: Wall Street Journal
MATH MATTERS
Growth Is Slower When You Add More
Too many founders think scaling means stacking.
More meetings. More hires. More channels. The result? A bloated, brittle business that feels busy but isn’t moving any faster.
The real unlock? Strategic subtraction.
In turbulent markets and chaotic growth stages, subtraction isn’t just cost-cutting, it’s clarity creation. It’s the act of intentionally removing what’s not working to make space for what actually does.
Harvard Business Review recently laid out a clear framework for strategic subtraction. The six subtractive moves include eliminate, substitute, consolidate, hide, pause, abstract. Then pair these with a triple-test: Does this removal improve efficiency, resilience, or distinctiveness? If yes, subtract it.
Let’s walk through what this looks like in the real world.
What subtraction looks like in work
Meetings: One founder canceled their entire team meeting stack and replaced it with a series of brief async check-ins. Their team didn’t collapse. They shipped and grew 3x more.
Tool stack: If you use five different tools for project management, cut it to one. Not two. One. Fewer tabs, fewer silos, fewer excuses.
Sales pipeline: Trim it. One startup removed 60% of their pipeline leads by cutting anything that wasn’t aligned with their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Their close rate jumped. Sales morale improved. Forecasting became real again.
Projects: Hit pause on low-impact experiments. Cut content that doesn’t convert. Archive anything that exists “just in case.” The best strategy often isn’t starting something new, it’s stopping what’s not working.
Why this matters right now
In 2025, most businesses are operating with fewer resources and higher volatility. If your strategy is "add more until it works," you're building on sand.
Subtraction gives you sharper focus, faster execution, and more breathing room to actually think.
Plus, it gives your team something precious: a clear signal of what matters.
Try this: Subtraction Sprint (this week)
Here’s a 3-step subtraction play you can run in 30 minutes:
Audit: List every recurring meeting, tool, project, and workflow you’re involved in. Don’t hold back.
Test: For each one, ask: If I killed this today, would it make us more efficient, resilient, or clear?
Cut: Pick three things to pause, kill, or consolidate. Just three. You’ll feel the momentum by the end of the week.
Growth doesn’t always come from addition. Sometimes it comes from letting go.
The best operators aren’t juggling more, they’re holding fewer things tighter.
Make subtraction a habit. Your clarity depends on it. Your team will thank you for it.
And your results? You’ll notice those too.
RIVET RECOMMENDS
Tired of compliance drama?
That enterprise deal? They just asked for SOC 2. Traditional path: 6 months, $100K.
With Delve: 15 hours. Our AI handles the busywork, and our experts help you close faster.
Lovable did it in 20 hours.
11x unlocked $2.3M.
Book a demo—code BEEHIV1K gets you $1,000 off.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Like fine wine and perfectly aged cheese, these growth tools pair perfectly with this week’s feature on the discipline of Strategic Subtraction:
Use it for: Replacing bloated OKR spreadsheets and scattered goal tracking.
Subtraction win: Remove noisy dashboards and replace them with a streamlined, team-visible goal system that actually gets used.
Use it for: Documenting processes, updates, and team decisions without meetings.
Subtraction win: Eliminate repetitive explanations and status updates. Use visual documentation that scales.
What it does: Type // in any text field (emails, docs, social posts) to summon its AI assistant. Instantly generate high-quality writing like summaries, replies, or drafts without writing prompts or switching apps.
Subtraction win: Remove friction in your workflow by reducing dependence on multiple writing tools, external apps, or lunch‑meeting writing reviews.