Domain Knowledge is Overrated(?)

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I feel like I write about this every year, but the issue of domain knowledge in new ventures is a topic worth revisiting. 

Specifically, how important is domain knowledge in the new businesses we launch?

It seems like a question with an obvious answer: of course, domain knowledge is essential. If we don’t understand how and why things are done in our space, how can we expect to create an organization that can command it? If we don’t harness the insights of those with decades of experience in the domain in question, then we’re going to need to relearn what they already know. Which is an extremely inefficient way to go. 

But what if we’re trying to reinvent the space? What if we want to overturn decades of conventional wisdom, the way things have “always been done”? 

In that case, there’s an argument that domain knowledge is a crutch, that is holds you back from changing the game. 

The venture capitalist, Vinod Khosla, made this argument in a recent tweet, in which he said that if your goal is simply execution - doing what’s always been done well - then domain knowledge is critical. But if your goal is revolution, to rethink the normal order of things, then domain knowledge is just going to get in the way. It ends up extrapolating the past instead of reinventing the future. It “subverts the mission”. 

Fighting words, indeed. But worth more than just a thought. 

Often, our professional experiences provide us with a real basis to do good work. But they also result in baggage. This is how things are done. This is how you should think about this issue. 

That can be a problem. It can blind us to ways to sidestep those conventional ways. It can constrain us to mitigate risk rather than instigate revolution. In others words, it can become that thing that holds us back from making real change. 

So, depending on what we’re doing, it’s worth asking what the relative importance of domain knowledge is. It may not always be as critical as we might initially think.