About Faster Than Normal
Faster Than Normal publishes structured research on the people and companies that shaped modern business. The library includes 350+ leadership playbooks, 380+ company analyses, and an interconnected collection of mental models, strategic frameworks, and decision tools — all cited to their source material and searchable across the full archive.
The project started with a simple observation: the most consequential founders in history were voracious students of other founders. They built personal libraries of pattern recognition over decades of reading biographies, case studies, and competitive analyses.
Alex Brogan spent years doing the same thing, distilling what he found into a weekly newsletter now read by 70,000+ founders, operators, and investors. This platform is what happened when the material outgrew the format — hundreds of books' worth of research, organized not as summaries but as structured playbooks for people who build and run things.
How the research is structured
Every person and company in the library follows a three-part Playbook format — not chapter-by-chapter summaries, but synthesis across multiple sources into a structure built for operators:
Part I: The Story
A thematic narrative — not a chronological biography. Organized around strategic eras, inflection points, and the decisions that defined the subject.
Part II: The Playbook
8–12 named principles and mental models extracted from the subject's career. Each includes analysis, evidence, and an actionable tactic you can apply.
Part III: Quotes & Maxims (people) / Business Breakdown (companies)
For people: the defining quotes and distilled one-line maxims. For companies: revenue model, competitive position, moat analysis, flywheel, growth drivers, and key risks.
This Playbook structure is applied across hundreds of people and companies. The library also includes four research collections:
Business Models
How the world's most successful companies make money. Each profile covers the core mechanics, example companies, and key dynamics of a distinct business model.
Strategic Frameworks
Proven strategic concepts for analyzing markets, competition, and growth. Each framework explains the concept, when to apply it, and how to put it into practice.
Mental Models
Thinking tools for better judgment and decision-making, drawn from the practices of great investors and operators. Each model includes its category, source, and depth-to-apply rating.
Decision Tools
Structured methods for making better decisions under uncertainty. Organized across categories like framing, evaluating options, stress-testing, and prioritization.
Editorial principles
Synthesis, not summaries. We cross-reference dozens of sources per subject to surface the patterns, principles, and decisions that actually mattered — then structure them for practical use.
Every claim has a source. The search tool cites the original playbook material behind every answer. If it can't be traced back to researched content, it doesn't get said.
Built for operators. Every playbook, mental model, and decision tool is structured around one question: how do I apply this? Theory matters when it changes what you do.
The whole picture in one place. People, companies, business models, frameworks, mental models, and decision tools — connected and searchable. Cross-domain knowledge that used to take years of reading.
How this was built
The library was built with human editorial control and AI-assisted research. Structure, taxonomy, source selection, and final approval are human. AI is used for fact extraction and drafting. Every playbook is reviewed and edited before publication.
From our readers
“I admire your work, Alex.”
“I really enjoy your newsletter, thought-provoking always stimulates my thinking.”
“Big fan of your writing. I’d love to interview you for my blog and get your perspectives and lessons.”
“Huge fan and supporter, reach out anytime I can be helpful to you (I’m a longtime CMO and CEO here in Silicon Valley)”
“Loved the Anna Wintour Newsletter — I ended up watching and reading most of the links — thank you for making my weekend super interesting!”
Start here
Pick a person or company you're curious about. Or ask the library a question and see what comes back.