[Founder Notes] John D. Rockefeller

His good side is as good as his bad side is bad.

Concentration is powerful and underutilized. Focus on the customer and frugality. Obsessed about managing management and organizational design. Eliminated blueprints and replaced them with narratives in paragraph form, written like press releases.

Built cartels knowing it was unfair. Built super strong vertical and horizontal alliances by identifying what each side wanted before structuring deals.

Obsessed work — worked hard and long, likely 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Collected what others knew to create leverage. Great at the big picture, focused on "saving" the oil industry as a whole.

Controlled information flow: By age 35 Rockefeller owned 90% of the oil industry, but few people outside of oil had ever heard of him. Even producers after meetings with him barely knew what to think of the guy.

Vertical integration: Own all phases of oil delivery, from well to barrel to transport.

Big to drive price down: Despite what seems like monopoly behavior, this mentality enabled him to continue finding ways to drive price down for consumers.

— Jay