The 5th type of leverage (why I don't use to-do lists)

What you'll learn:

• Why "permissionless" leverage (Code & Media) is rarely the bottleneck for scaling entrepreneurs

• The "Fifth Form of Leverage" that actually determines if your Capital and Labor perform

• How to replace your 2026 to-do list with a strategic "Leverage Audit"

Naval Ravikant famously outlined four forms of leverage: Labor, Capital, Code, and Media.

In the tech world, we are obsessed with the last two—Code and Media—because they are "permissionless." They create infinite output with zero marginal cost.

But here is the reality check for a scaling entrepreneur:

You rarely struggle with the permissionless levers.

• "Code" is just your Product. You have built it.

• "Media" is just your Go-To-Market. You have channels for it.

The bottleneck usually lies in the levers that do require permission: Labor and Capital.

But unlike software, you can’t just code humans to perform. You can't program investors to wire funds.

This is where the model breaks down.

We assume that if we hire the smart people (Labor) and raise the money (Capital), the leverage automatically works.

But it doesn’t. I see entrepreneurs every day who have the headcount and the bank balance, yet they are completely stuck.

Why?

Because Labor and Capital are useless without a transmission mechanism. A force that turns potential energy into kinetic energy.

That mechanism is the Fifth Type of Leverage: Relationships.

Think about Labor. You don't manage "labor" as an abstract resource. You manage a specific set of relationships with direct reports.

• If that relationship is high-trust, your leverage is efficient. A 5-minute call leads to a month of aligned execution.

• If that relationship is low-trust, your leverage is broken. A 5-page memo leads to confusion and drag.

The same applies to Capital. Capital isn't just money in the bank; it's the confidence of the people who gave it to you. That confidence—that relationship—is the only thing that allows you to deploy risk effectively when the market turns.

The Leverage Audit (Not A Planning Session)

This is why I don't use my Annual Review to generate "To-Do Lists."

A To-Do list is linear. It focuses on tasks. An entrepreneur's job is exponential. It focuses on people.

If you spend your holidays planning projects instead of auditing the relationships that power those projects, you are optimizing the engine while ignoring the transmission.

The 2026 Annual Review is designed to fix this.

We redesigned the questions to focus on the Four Concentric Circles of Responsibility:

1. Self: The foundation of your capacity.

2. Loved Ones: The emotional anchor.

3. Team: The "Labor" enablers.

4. Community: The ecosystem.

When you audit these circles, you don't get a list of tasks. You get a map of where your leverage is blocked—and who you need to align with to unblock it.

How to use the guide this year:

• The AI Guide: I’ve trained a custom AI to act as your sparring partner. It will help you identify which relationships are capping your leverage.

• The Notebook (German language + a version is available that includes an English-guide insert): For those who want to disconnect to reconnect.

The most productive thing you can do for 2026 isn't to add more tasks. It's to clear the friction in the relationships that carry your ambition.

Onwards. Together.

Julius