Russell Steed

The Fundamental Edge

Business EN ↓ 3 episodes

I'm Russell Steed, and I've got this weird obsession with figuring out why some businesses take off while others crash and burn. Maybe it's the physics degree talking, but I keep seeing these crazy patterns that nobody's talking about. That's what The Fundamental Edge is all about. I take those invisible forces shaping business success and make them ridiculously obvious by connecting them to physics and natural laws. (Don't worry, I keep the physics super simple – no quantum mechanics here unless you're into that sort of thing.)Each episode, I'll break down a fundamental principle through real...

Author

Russell Steed

Episodes

3. How Tiny Improvements Create 372% Revenue Gains 13.01.2026 26:30

Summary: Would you take $3 million today—or a penny that doubles for 31 days? Most people grab the cash. By day 29, you'd only have $2.7 million. But by day 31? $10.7 million. That's the compound effect, and it's the invisible force behind every business that seems to grow "overnight." In this episode, I break down why our brains can't compute exponential growth (blame evolution), how the British...

2. Focus Creates Fire: Why the Best Companies Do Less 06.01.2026 43:58

Focus Creates Fire: Why In-N-Out Crushes McDonald's With 10x Fewer Stores The Fundamental Edge | Episode 2 Episode Summary What does a magnifying glass have in common with In-N-Out Burger? Turns out, everything. In this episode, I break down the physics principle of focus and how it connects to one of the most powerful business strategies out there—the Hedgehog Concept from Jim Collins' Good to Gr...

1. First Principles: Why Grandma Cut the Ham (And What It's Costing You) 30.12.2025 28:21

Three generations. One ham. Zero reason to keep cutting off the end—except "that's how we've always done it." Sound familiar? This is the trap most entrepreneurs fall into, and it's costing you more than you think. In this episode, we break down first principles thinking —the mental framework behind SpaceX's 90% cost reduction, NVIDIA's AI dominance, and Netflix's transformation from DVD mailers t...