One Problem, One Person, and the A+ Life: Lessons from a PayPal Playbook

You’ve seen it before. A team bogged down in meetings, patching leaks in the ship while the bigger storm rolls in. They’re “busy,” but they’re not solving the problems that matter. Sound familiar?

At PayPal, Peter Thiel had a simple solution: assign one person to solve one problem. A+ people tackling A+ problems. No distractions. No multitasking. Just laser focus on the things that move the needle.

Why We Love the Easy Stuff

Let’s be honest: we avoid hard problems because they’re uncomfortable. The unknown feels risky, and failure isn’t a great dinner companion. So we default to what’s familiar—solving B+ problems that make us feel productive but don’t lead to breakthroughs.

The hard stuff? That’s where the magic is.

The Catch: When It All Falls Apart

The “One Person, One Problem” rule sounds like a dream—until you don’t have enough people. When teams are stretched too thin, they start juggling. And here’s what happens:

• Task Switching: Everyone’s doing everything, and nothing gets done well.
• Comfort Zones: People default to B+ problems they know how to solve.
• Quality Drops: Instead of A+ work, you get mediocre results.

Single-Threaded Work: A Recipe for Flow

Here’s the thing about creative work: it thrives in single-threaded focus. Give someone a clear goal, a well-defined problem, and a DDDD (Drop Dead Due Date), and you’ll see brilliance. But this doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

It takes the right team structure:

• A+ Players: Skilled, focused individuals solving the hardest problems.
• A Protective Leader: Someone who shields the team from distractions (read: VIP side-asks) and keeps the wheels turning.
• Diverse Strengths: Just enough people to balance creativity, execution, and the ability to pivot when necessary.

The Role of the Leader: Slayer of Dragons ??

If you’re leading this kind of team, here’s the hard truth: the A+ problems aren’t yours to solve. Your job is to ensure your people have what they need to succeed.

That means:

• Clearing roadblocks.
• Connecting them with the right experts.
• Fending off the inevitable “Can you just?” requests.

It also means keeping your hands dirty. The best leaders I’ve seen are the ones who lead from the front—rolling up their sleeves, jumping into smaller tasks when needed, and showing the team that they’re in the trenches too.

Why It’s Worth It

A+ problems aren’t easy. They aren’t supposed to be. But they’re the ones that change everything. The ones that make you look back and think, That’s where we made the leap.

So here’s the question:

• Are you solving the problems that matter?
• Or are you stuck patching leaks while the storm rolls in?

Focus on the hard stuff. Build the right team. Be the slayer of dragons.

And remember: the biggest breakthroughs don’t come from doing more—they come from doing the right thing with relentless focus.

Final Thought

Want to dive deeper into these ideas? Check out the AI-generated podcast version of this article at https://www.camsprompts.com/feed/podcast/deepthoughts-and-whatnots/.