Productize Yourself: The 2-Word Wealth Formula Naval Ravikant Uses to Build Wealth
The Problem: You're Confusing Productization with Automation
Most entrepreneurs who hear "productize yourself" think the same thing:
*"Oh, I need to create a course. Or a digital product. Or a SaaS that scales without me."*
Wrong.
That's automation, not productization.
Automation is when you build something that works without you. Productization is different: it's when you become the product.
Naval isn't talking about creating software that sells while you sleep. He's talking about something deeper: how to build a value machine where your knowledge, your judgment, and your decision-making ability are what people pay for.
What "Productize Yourself" Really Means
When Naval says "productize yourself," here's what he means:
Take your experience, your way of thinking, your ability to solve problems, and package it so it can be consumed at scale, without you being present in every transaction.
Let's break it down:
1. Accumulate Specific Knowledge
It's not about being good at many things. It's about being irreplaceable at something.
Naval spent years studying economics, technology, philosophy, and business. Not to be a pretty polymath. But because he needed to develop a unique point of view that nobody else had.
That specific knowledge is what people can't get anywhere else. It's your moat.
As a developer, this means:
- Don't learn everything in tech
- Go deep in what differentiates you
- Develop intuition in areas where others have only data
2. Scale Your Judgment, Not Your Time
This is where most people fail.
You have 24 hours a day. I have 24 hours a day. But your judgment can scale.
When Naval shares his way of thinking—through tweets, podcasts, conversations—he's not selling his time. He's selling his decision-making ability, his way of thinking.
That's productization.
It can be:
- Public content (tweets, articles, videos)
- Advising startups (where your judgment is worth more than your execution)
- Products that codify your thinking (frameworks, templates, tools)
- Communities where you share your way of thinking
The key: your presence isn't necessary for the value to be delivered.
3. Use Leverage
Naval talks about three types of leverage:
1. Labor leverage: Hiring people to work for you 2. Capital leverage: Using money to multiply results 3. Product leverage: Creating something that sells infinitely
Most entrepreneurs use the first two. But the third is where the magic happens.
Software that sells without you is product leverage. But so is:
- A book that explains your methodology
- A podcast where you share your way of thinking
- A community where others learn your approach
- A framework that others can apply
How to Apply It: The Developer's Case
I'm a developer. I spend my time writing code, building products, thinking about architecture.
How do I productize myself?
Option 1: Public Content
Every article I write, every thread I post, every video I create is a packaged version of my way of thinking.
I'm not selling my time. I'm scaling my judgment.
Many developers think: "But who's going to pay for that?"
The answer: not everyone has to pay. But some will.
- Startups that want to hire someone who thinks like me
- Companies that need tech advice
- Students who pay for courses or mentorship
- Clients who pay for specialized work because they see I know what I'm talking about
Option 2: Digital Products
I'm not talking about generic courses like "Learn React in 30 Days."
I'm talking about products that encode your unique way of solving problems.
Real examples:
- A tool that automates something you do constantly
- A framework or template that reflects your methodology
- A service that uses your judgment to make decisions (consulting, advisory)
Option 3: Specialized Advising
This is the bridge between your time and productization.
You don't sell hours. You sell results.
"I'll help you decide the right architecture for your startup" isn't selling time. It's selling judgment.
And judgment scales better than time.
Why It Works
The reason "productize yourself" is so powerful is this:
Most intelligent people aren't replicable. Their value is in their head.
Most entrepreneurs try to create businesses that don't require their presence. But that's hard. It requires:
- Initial capital
- Trustworthy team
- Well-documented systems
- Luck
But your knowledge, your way of thinking, your ability to solve problems... that already exists. It just needs to be packaged.
It's much easier to scale your judgment than to scale your time.
The Trap: Don't Confuse Productization with Disappearing
Here's the nuance many miss:
Productizing yourself doesn't mean you disappear.
Naval is still visible. Still accessible. Still thinking out loud.
What he does is make it so his direct presence isn't required to generate value.
That's different from:
- Creating a business that doesn't need you (that's something else)
- Disappearing and hoping people buy (that doesn't work)
It's creating an intellectual center of gravity where your way of thinking is what attracts value.
How to Start Today
1. Identify your specific knowledge: What are you irreplaceable at? Not what you're good at. What does nobody else do like you?
2. Start sharing publicly: Write, speak, create content. Not to sell. To clarify your thinking.
3. Observe where value is generated: Where do people seek you out? Where do your ideas have the most impact?
4. Package it: Create a product, a service, a community around it.
5. Scale judgment, not time: Make sure the value doesn't depend on your direct presence.
The Takeaway
Naval Ravikant isn't rich because he created software that sells without him. He's rich because he became a source of thinking that people value.
His way of thinking about wealth, technology, philosophy is what people pay for (directly or indirectly).
You can do the same in your domain.
You don't need to create the next SaaS unicorn. You need to turn your way of thinking into something others can consume at scale.
That's productizing yourself.
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What's your specific knowledge? Where can you start productizing yourself today?
The answer isn't spectacular. But it's practical. And that's what works.