Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David, with Greg Dinkin, is a business strategy book built around a chess idea: strong players do not only react to what is happening now; they think about what could happen next. The book applies that habit to entrepreneurship, leadership, hiring, growth, and difficult decisions. [1][2]
Its money lesson is practical: a business is valuable when it solves a real problem and can grow without wasting cash. Strategy is not a fancy word for guessing the future. It is choosing a direction, studying the situation, and preparing several sensible options.
Book facts
| Author | Patrick Bet-David, with Greg Dinkin |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Gallery Books |
| First published | 2020 |
| Length | 320 pages in the hardcover edition |
| Main topics | Entrepreneurship, strategy, decision-making, teams, scaling, and leverage. [1][2] |
What the book is about
Bet-David argues that entrepreneurs need clarity before they need speed. If you do not know what you want, what your company is good at, or what problem you are solving, it is hard to choose the right next step. Clear thinking helps you avoid spending money and time on random activity.
The book asks readers to study the pieces on the board: customers, rivals, employees, cash, timing, and the rules of the market. Once you see those pieces, you can make a move that improves your position instead of simply making noise.
The five moves, explained simply
1. Know yourself
Understand your goals, strengths, weaknesses, and motives. This is like checking your toolbox before starting a job.
2. Learn to reason
Separate facts from feelings. Ask what caused a problem, what could happen next, and what each choice might cost.
3. Build the right team
Put capable people in roles that fit them. A team is a group whose skills work well together.
4. Create a scaling strategy
Grow sales without letting costs rise just as quickly. Systems and training help a business grow without breaking.
5. Understand power plays
Notice who has choices, information, money, or influence. Leverage is an advantage that can multiply effort, though it can also multiply losses.
Key terms in plain language
- Strategy: a plan for reaching an important goal while responding to other people’s actions.
- Leverage: a tool that multiplies effort, such as technology, a strong brand, or a talented team. Debt can also create leverage, but increases danger.
- Scaling: growing customers or sales without costs growing just as quickly.
- Competitive advantage: a reason customers choose you instead of another business.
- Opportunity cost: what you give up when you choose one path instead of another.
What it gets right
- Clarity protects resources. A clear goal makes it easier to say no to distractions.
- People are part of the financial plan. A good team can create more value than one person alone.
- Think before scaling. More sales do not mean more profit if every sale costs too much.
- Timing matters. A good idea launched at the wrong time can still fail.
What to be careful about
Business is not a game with fixed rules. Customers change their minds, markets fall, and events arrive that nobody predicted. Thinking five moves ahead does not mean knowing the future.
Strategy cannot replace product quality, honest treatment of customers, legal compliance, or enough cash to survive mistakes. Leverage can make gains larger, but it can make losses larger too.
Simple version: look ahead, but keep your eyes on the step under your feet.
A simple exercise for business owners
- Write the one result your business must achieve in the next year.
- List the three facts that matter most: cash, customers, and competition.
- Write five possible next moves, including one defensive move.
- Estimate each move’s cost, benefit, and worst-case result.
- Choose the smallest sensible move that teaches you something useful.
Bottom line
Your Next Five Moves is a practical introduction to strategic thinking for entrepreneurs. Its strongest lesson is not to predict everything. It is to understand the board, choose deliberately, build capable people, and protect the resources that keep a business alive.
