A core constraint is the irreducible truth at the center of a problem domain. It’s what remains when you’ve abstracted away everything non-essential.
Every business has them. Most businesses haven’t named them.
Why they matter
Markets change. Technologies shift. Customer preferences evolve. But core constraints are stable — they describe what is fundamentally true about a problem, not what happens to be true today.
When you build your business identity around core constraints, you gain:
- Clarity — you know what decisions to make and which to skip
- Resilience — your strategy doesn’t break when the market shifts
- Narrative power — you can explain your value in terms that stick
This is the foundation of everything Positive Constraint does.
Examples from past work
| Company | Constraint 1 | Constraint 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Tapouts | Child safety | Kids-first design |
| CortiSense | Healthy production | Least overhead |
| User1st | Inclusiveness | Velocity |
| LEAP Commerce | Serviceability | Velocity |
How they’re found
Core constraints don’t come from brainstorming. They come from abstraction — from getting close to the problem domain, interviewing stakeholders, and then stepping back far enough to see the shape of the thing.
See The Process for the full methodology.