Why does someone start something? I’ve heard all kinds of reasons. But when someone gives up, the reason is usually the same — It doesn’t make money, or they simply don’t have the funds to continue.
A venture succeeds because it was meant to succeed. It exists because there is a real human need. If not you, someone else would create something that meets that need.
So, what drives success is the beneficiaries. What drives scale is the number of beneficiaries. If something only meets your own needs, and you can complete it by yourself, then it’s definitely a small thing.
The key lies in this: how to design something that fulfills your needs while also benefiting others. That’s the essence of a business closed loop.
This book presents a minimalist model of the business closed loop. It’s a model rooted in timeless business principles, unchanged for over a century, and tested through decades of practice. At its core, it consists of just three elements: Value, Consensus, and Model.
Once you grasp these three elements, you can survive in the business world—and more importantly, sustain what you love.
What is "Value" in this model? "Value" is a buzzword today. Broadly speaking, everything has value, from diamonds to dust. But the value this book discusses is business value— that is, value that can be monetized in the market, value that users are willing to pay for. So, business value is not something you can define by wishful thinking. It’s determined by the other party in a transaction—the buyer. The first skill you need to develop in business is to let go of your own subjective feelings and desires and instead view your offering from the buyer’s perspective. You’ll quickly realize in business, value and demand are two sides of the same coin. What you believe is valuable may not have business value. Only when it meets someone else’s needs—and they’re willing to pay for it—does it have business value. So, creating something of value vs. creating something of business value—they are not the same thing.
What is "Consensus" in this model? In business, consensus is expressed through collaboration and transactions. If your value proposition is solid and matches the buyer’s need, why haven’t they taken action yet? Why hasn’t a deal been made? There’s only one reason: consensus hasn’t been reached.
In business, the outcomes of consensus take two forms: Transactions and Relationships. That’s what every company pursues in the market—sales transactions and long-term partnerships. “Relationship” is a word everyone holds dear, yet often vaguely understand. At its core, a relationship is built on a series of shared agreements, as well as shared (or exclusive) access to resources, and mutual responsibilities based on those agreements.
Many people assume that once they gain a title—like “partner,” “lover,” “family,” or “mentor”— they are automatically entitled to shared or exclusive benefits. That’s a naïve belief. And it’s the source of much emotional pain in relationships. When your expectations—support, priority, exclusivity—are not met, you should ask yourself: Did we ever reach clear, explicit agreements about this?
The opposite of consensus is disagreement. If disagreement grows, it becomes conflict. If conflict escalates, it becomes war. And what resolves wars, conflicts, and disagreements is always consensus. “Nice” people often avoid conflict by remaining silent until they explode. The result? Sudden breakdowns, awkwardness, or even relationship collapse. This is immature.
In the business world, the ability to lead people toward consensus is core leadership.
Without it, teams won’t follow you, and customers won’t choose you. So why do disagreement and conflict exist? Because people have different feelings, expectations, and interests. Now ask yourself—Is there anyone in the world whose interests are exactly aligned with yours? Not one. Not your parents, spouse, children, colleagues, or friends. No one’s interests are 100% aligned with yours. Disagreements and conflicts are universal and eternal. There’s no need to be shocked or avoid them. Instead, accept them, see them clearly, understand them, and rise above them.
What is "Model" in this framework? If you’ve created value and reached consensus with customers—you’ve closed deals and built relationships. Isn’t that enough for survival? Why do you still need a “model”? Because a business doesn’t exist just to serve customers—it exists to gain resources from the market by serving customers and then use those resources to survive and grow.
Let’s look at a common example: A person likes someone and keeps showing up, highlighting their good qualities, hoping to be noticed and chosen. From a mature business perspective, this is still childish. Why? Because they don’t understand the other person, themselves, or the relationship.
To understand the other person is to understand their needs—Your good qualities may not be what they need. To understand yourself is to know your own need for survival and growth—What can you gain from this relationship? Why would you choose to stay long term? So, any strong relationship must be mutually beneficial. If it only serves the other person, but not your own survival and growth, or vice versa—no matter how passionate the start, the relationship will not last.
Now back to the question: What is “Model” in this context? It’s about knowing yourself— Knowing why you can survive, and why you can continue to survive. Knowing your competitive advantages and knowing how to invest your market-earned resources to build your system of strengths. All markets eventually mature. In mature markets, demand becomes public, and supply becomes similar. The only differentiator left is your survival model.
In Summary, in this minimalist model (see Figure 0-1): Value stems from demand. You have value because you're needed. Consensus is achieved by overcoming disagreement. Its results are deals and relationships. Model is how you survive and grow. Each person and company are shaped by their unique model in interaction with their environment.
Link them together, and you have a complete business loop: Discover a need, deliver value. Reach consensus with customers/market, gain deals and relationships. Use the resulting money and resources to grow and strengthen your competitive edge. Repeat.
This is how you survive in the business world: Create value → Achieve consensus → Gain resources → Build strength → Secure survival.
Today’s anxiety and unease often come from fear of future survival. So, what gives a person a sense of security? Is it having a lot of money? If all others want from you is your money, then you’re actually in a dangerous position.
Money is like water flowing through the business closed loop. It’s a result. When your actions align with market rules, money naturally flows to you—like how rivers flow into lakes.
This is why I wrote this book—To lay out the sequence of this loop and help those navigating the business world build internal clarity and order.
If you’ve worked hard but haven’t seen market returns, then your business loop isn’t fully connected yet. You can examine each link—Is the value not valid? Has consensus not been reached? Is your model not fit? Find the problem and address it specifically. One day, when all parts connect, your loop will complete, and you’ll receive your reward from the market.
This book uses about 270,000 words to explore how to build that closed loop. If it were condensed into one phrase, it would be: "Real Needs."
Business is part of everyday life. And its biggest question overlaps with philosophy’s eternal one: What does life really need? What does the market truly need? What do users truly need? What do you truly need?
People who succeed in business are honest about their own needs, and perceptive of others’. They waste no energy. They move fast and hit the mark—without hiding from their own needs or ignoring others’.
To study business is to repeatedly refine what you already know—To strip away pretenses and uncover truth. To tell what is superficial from what’s deeply desired. What hurts when touched, what moves when pulled. Then, you will develop conviction and a sense of secure existence. All security in relationships comes from knowing—you are needed.
Work is participation in society. Business is one dimension of that participation. In this dimension, everything gets simplified—often crudely—into money. Price becomes a signal, representing supply, demand, scarcity, and willingness to pay. Through this lens, things are mobilized, driven, created, delivered, and transformed into money in circulation— Aligning people and businesses, enabling cooperation.
But we must always remember—This world is not made of business, it’s made of life. All of this—business or otherwise—is about how to hold space for the richness of life and the vibrancy of living.
Learning to build a business closed loop helps you earn resources from the market so that you can keep doing what you love. Nature is evolving. So is the human world. New infrastructure and new technologies keep emerging, creating new possibilities. We can keep trying—to solve old problems that once had no answers, and to create things the world has never seen. That’s innovation—Letting life bloom. Letting resources flow. And that’s the most beautiful thing.