In business, investing, and leadership, two contrasting approaches define success.
Most people, especially today, follow the 80/20 Rule, looking for the smallest effort for the biggest gain. A rare few take a different path, embracing what Graham Weaver from Alpine Investors has coined as the 100/100 Rule, where extraordinary effort and resource allocation lead to outperforming results.
Both strategies work, but only one creates dominant businesses.
The 80/20 Rule: The Optimizer’s Approach
The 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of effort. It’s a strategy for efficiency—focusing on high-leverage activities to maximize returns while minimizing wasted effort.
In business, it’s commonly used to:
- Prioritize the 20% of customers that drive the most revenue.
- Focus on the most profitable business lines while cutting the rest.
- Target the highest-return investment opportunities instead of chasing every deal.
This method is useful for businesses seeking incremental improvements. But it has a ceiling—it optimizes within existing constraints instead of breaking through them.
The 100/100 Rule: The Maximizer’s Approach
The 100/100 Rule takes a different stance. Instead of asking, What’s the least I can do to get results? it asks:
What happens if I go all in—maximizing effort and resources to build something truly extraordinary?
This approach requires a different mindset:
- 100% effort—Deploying all available resources toward an ambitious goal.
- 100% intensity—Pushing beyond normal constraints, even when it seems excessive.
This approach isn’t about marginal gains. It’s about creating dominant businesses, category leaders, and transformative investments.
Steve Schwarzman’s 100/100 Commitment at Blackstone
A classic example of 100/100 rule is Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone.
In 1985, Schwarzman and Pete Peterson launched Blackstone with just $400,000 in capital. Instead of operating like a typical small firm, they acted as if they were already a financial powerhouse—overinvesting in talent, relationships, and research from day one.
But Schwarzman’s 100/100 commitment wasn’t just financial—it was personal.
In his memoir, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence, Schwarzman describes how he worked 100-hour weeks, personally overseeing every aspect of the business in its early years. He refused to take shortcuts or settle for “good enough.” Instead, he made bold bets, often spending more on talent and research than their deal flow justified.
One turning point came in 1987 when Blackstone won its first major deal, a $330 million buyout of a cement company. Most firms of their size would have played it safe. Instead, Schwarzman doubled down—using the win to establish credibility and immediately chasing larger deals.
Fast-forward nearly 40 years, and that relentless 100/100 approach has turned Blackstone into a $1 trillion AUM investment powerhouse. Schwarzman himself is now worth over $30 billion, proving that playing all-in can reshape entire industries.
The Copart Story: Family, Time, and Total Commitment
A different but equally powerful example is Copart, the global leader in auto salvage auctions, built by Willis Johnson.
Johnson didn’t just optimize an existing business model—he reinvented the entire industry. And he did it by committing everything—time, effort, and even his entire family—to making it work.
In his biography Junk to Gold, Johnson recounts how he bought his first junkyard in California in 1982, working 7 days a week, from sunrise to late at night. But it wasn’t just him—his entire family was involved. His wife managed the office, his kids helped in the yard, and he spent nearly every waking hour figuring out how to turn salvage cars into a scalable business.
The real 100/100 moment came when he made a bet that seemed excessive at the time—shifting Copart from a traditional auction house to a fully digital platform.
Most competitors saw online auctions as unnecessary. They focused on 80/20 optimization, keeping their best physical locations and streamlining operations. Johnson went all in. He didn’t just test the waters—he pushed Copart to become an entirely digital-first company.
The results? Copart went from a small regional business to an absolute category dominator, attaining +$4 billion in annual revenue and a market cap of +$40 billion. In the process it went from a handful of yards to more than 200 locations worldwide.
What made Copart special wasn’t just smart execution—it was relentless, disproportionate effort. Most people think of business as an optimization game. Johnson treated it as an all-consuming mission.
80/20 vs. 100/100: The Key Difference
The 80/20 Rule helps you optimize performance within existing constraints. The 100/100 Rule breaks constraints entirely.
| 80/20 (Minimizer) | 100/100 (Maximizer) |
| Focuses on efficiency | Focuses on market dominance |
| Allocates resources sparingly | Deploys full resources aggressively |
| Accepts industry limits | Redefines industry boundaries |
| Seeks incremental gains | Aims for exponential results |
Applying the 100/100 Rule in Investing & Business
Most companies and investors aim for “smart effort”—the minimum input for maximum gain. That’s fine for solid returns. But the firms and individuals who redefine industries—Blackstone, Copart, Amazon, Tesla, Starbucks—deploy 100/100 thinking:
- They don’t just work harder; they go all in.
- They don’t just grow within the system; they reshape the system.
- They don’t just scale efficiently; they scale beyond what seems rational.
If you’re building a company, raising a fund, or scaling a business, the question is: Are you optimizing effort, or maximizing impact?
If you want to outperform the market, out-invest your competitors, or outscale your peers, consider this: Maybe it’s time to stop thinking 80/20—and start thinking 100/100.