Dream Big, Work Backwards
Set a boundary-breaking destination, then connect it to action today
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 93%
Dream Big, Work Backwards begins by separating vision from the constraints visible today. Joe contrasts his immigrant survival mindset—focused on whatever was directly ahead—with the larger thinking he learned through Hims. The method sets a destination that may initially exceed what the founder believes is realistic, then works backwards from that future to the milestones and actions required now. The large goal changes which opportunities, resources, and paths become visible; backward planning prevents it from remaining fantasy. Joe uses Elon Musk's Mars and space-data-center ambitions as an illustration of declaring a seemingly impossible future and then asking how to make it real. The output is an ambitious direction linked to present execution rather than a smaller goal defined by current circumstances.
Origin
Joe Spector said Hims taught him to replace immigrant survival thinking with large visions that he could work backwards into Dutch's present execution.
Core principles
- 01Survival thinking limits vision to what is immediately visible
- 02A large goal should be bigger than what currently feels imaginable
- 03The destination comes before the backward plan
- 04Today's work must connect the distant vision to reality
How to run it
- 1
Name the destination
Describe the meaningful outcome you would pursue if today's perceived boundaries did not define the ceiling. Make the destination specific enough to shape choices.
Pro tip Choose an outcome whose scale forces different thinking, not merely more effort.
Watch out Size alone does not make a goal meaningful.
- 2
Expose inherited boundaries
List assumptions based on survival, precedent, convention, or current resources. Separate genuine constraints from boundaries that have never been tested.
Pro tip Ask which limits exist only because nobody in the company has challenged them.
Watch out Do not relabel legal, ethical, or physical constraints as timid thinking.
- 3
Work backwards
Identify what must be true immediately before the destination, then repeat until the chain reaches the present. Turn the vision into ordered milestones.
Pro tip Write each milestone as an observable condition rather than an aspiration.
Watch out Skipping dependencies creates a motivational poster, not a plan.
- 4
Act from today
Choose the present action that advances the nearest milestone and begin execution. Update the route as evidence arrives while preserving the destination unless the evidence truly invalidates it.
Pro tip Tie current priorities explicitly to the backward chain.
Watch out A large dream without today's action remains fiction.
In the wild
Joe said his immigrant experience trained him to focus on survival and what was directly ahead. After Hims, he brought a larger way of thinking into Dutch: imagine an outcome beyond current boundaries, then work backwards to make it real today.
→ The Hims experience changed the scale and planning logic Joe uses for his next company.
Common mistakes
Letting survival set the ceiling
Focusing only on the immediate obstacle can hide outcomes that require a different scale of thought.
Dreaming without backward steps
A large destination creates no execution advantage until it is connected to ordered milestones and present action.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for founders who have a meaningful long-term ambition but need to connect it to concrete choices now.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when an oversized goal is being used to avoid evidence, immediate constraints, or necessary operational work.
From the transcript
“I think after Hims, I realized that, just like what we're, you know, what we're seeing with Elon Musk, who's saying, you know, "I'm going…”
“that was a new way of thinking that I did not have before the Hims experience that I'm now taking into Dutch.”
From the episode
Joe Spector on Building Hims, Dutch & the Future of Telemedicine