How to Turn Business into a Multiplication Engine with Tech and Leadership

In this piece I continue the discussion on product and business, noting that the ideal state is a "multiplication" effect that every leader and team strives for, yet often falls short; I believe a company’s rapid growth hinges on finding this "multiplication engine."

Empowering business with technology or AI to launch it like a rocket is every boss’s dream, but it is far more challenging than a simple tech upgrade; many initiatives look promising at first but end in chaos after a few years.

The root causes are many, but the most crucial is that the boss must reflect on themselves. As the company’s biggest product manager, the boss must, from a strategic perspective, clearly understand the roles of business and technology.

Many favor technology‑driven approaches, yet technology should not drive for its own sake. Tech‑driven and business‑driven models are complementary, not opposing; companies evolve through stages where the core growth engine changes. Most internet‑plus firms transition from business‑driven to product‑technology‑driven, though many never reach the latter. The concept of O2O is less apt than the more effective "O AND O" model.

During business‑driven phases, the goal is to close the business loop and validate the model, leading to rapid changes that put immense pressure on R&D, which serves a supportive role. Leaders must exercise restraint, avoiding the temptation to force every function onto a system; many tasks can be trialed offline with minimal R&D tooling.

This mindset gap is hard to change; some leaders prefer all‑encompassing solutions, which can create a "top‑down" culture with negative outcomes. The key word here is "restraint."

After closing the business loop, R&D should seek points to boost efficiency and scale, solidifying effective business models into systems that support rapid expansion, demanding high functionality and fast iteration.

R&D must treat the business as its user, building tools that feel intuitive. Bias against business must be discarded; respecting and integrating into business workflows is essential for real efficiency gains. The primary users are business staff, not the boss, so R&D should largely follow business needs, while the boss’s strategic vision guides overall direction, exercised with restraint.

The most important insight is that a system is truly useful only when the business operates smoothly; paradoxically, a well‑run business reduces system problems, while a struggling business generates many. This underscores the consensus that standardization—enabled by robust systems—is the core of scaling.

Even with a solid system, the next hurdle is adoption. Consumer‑facing products rely on seamless UX, but B‑to‑B products involve complex workflows, requiring thorough training and strong promotion by business leaders. Neglecting this leads to stagnation and regression.