Hundred Schools of Thought

By Zhenyi Tan

A historical scene depicting Qin Shi Huang's book burning. People in traditional attire are outside a grand building with red doors and ornate architecture. Some individuals are dragging or pushing others, and a few are being thrown into a pit on the right side of the image. On the left side, there is a fire where books or documents are burning.

During the Warring States period, China was divided into many, err, warring states. The kings of these states wanted to take over the others. To do this, they needed the help of experts. So, many experts emerged during this time and became advisors to the kings. These experts often had conflicting ideas, making it hard for the kings to decide whose advice to follow.

Later, the state of Qin conquered the other six states. The king of Qin, now the first emperor of a unified China, wanted to maintain his power and prevent any dissent. He ordered the burning of books from various schools of thought. As a result, many of these ancient ideologies did not survive to modern times.

OK, I know this is the worst segue ever, but recently, after making yet another app that nobody uses, I started to doubt how I’ve been doing things. So, I started looking for business advice. I read books, listened to podcasts, and even checked out what the “gurus” on social media were saying.

And the more advice I hear, the less sure I am about anything. Just like the experts in ancient China, these modern experts give wildly different and even contradictory business advice.

You should make something new and innovative, find a blue ocean niche. You should stick to old boring ideas so your users understand your product. You should make things for yourself, so you know exactly what to build. You should make things that have wide appeal because you’re a weirdo and your interests are too niche.

The thing is, no matter what you say, it’s easy to find successful businesses to support your idea. Then, with these successful examples, you can keep talking nonsense, and it will sound like wisdom to untrained ears.

Why is this so common? I don’t know. Maybe because people crave advice. So, the internet supplies them. People have always loved cheat codes since the days of GameFAQs. But since you can find advice on anything, advice is not really advice anymore. It’s more like a way to make you feel good about what you already believe.

In the end, I decided to burn them (the advice, not the experts) like Qin Shi Huang burned the books. So, now I’m back to my ignorant self. Instead of trying to figure out everyone else’s advice, I’m just gonna do what feels right for me. And what a blissful feeling it is.