r-Selection
In business, r-selection means: burn cash, iterate fast, pivot often, fail frequently, bet that 1 in 10 succeeds.
In unstable environments, iteration speed beats investment depth.
Ecologists distinguish two reproductive strategies along a spectrum:
r-selection (fast and many): Produce many offspring, invest little in each, rely on speed and volume. Weeds, insects, bacteria. Fast growth, short lifespan, high offspring mortality, bet on iteration speed.
r-selection dominates in unstable, unpredictable environments where the future is unknowable and iteration speed beats investment depth.
During the Cambrian explosion 540 million years ago, body plans diversified wildly. Organisms tried everything: five eyes, spiky shells, tentacles, segmented bodies. r-selection. Iterate fast, see what survives. Most lineages went extinct. The survivors became modern phyla.
Business Application of r-Selection
In business, r-selection means: burn cash, iterate fast, pivot often, fail frequently, bet that 1 in 10 succeeds. Xiaomi exemplifies this with 6-month phone launches, dozens of products, weekly software updates. When the environment is unstable (technology shifting, preferences fragmenting, margins compressing), r-selection wins because startups without legacy constraints can pivot faster than incumbents can adapt.
r-Selection Appears in 2 Chapters
Contrasts r-selection (fast iteration, many offspring) with K-selection (slow investment, few offspring), showing how the Cambrian explosion exemplified r-selection's wild experimentation in unstable environments.
See r-selection drive the Cambrian explosion →Examines how startups use r-selection strategy - burning cash, iterating fast, pivoting often - to win in fragmenting markets where iteration speed beats planning depth.
Explore r-selection in startup strategy →