Google's 70-20-10 budget rule for growth

My notes

Summary

Sergey Brin formalised a 70-20-10 allocation rule at Google: 70% of time on core business, 20% on adjacent business, 10% on unrelated. He argued mathematically that the 10% on “unrelated” was non-negotiable for compounding growth to work.

Key Insight

• The split is about time/attention, not just budget. Most “innovation programs” fail because the unrelated 10% is the first to get cut under pressure.
• Adjacent (20%) is where most companies already operate by default - new SKUs, new geos, new segments of the same playbook. This is not innovation, it’s expansion.
• The “unrelated 10%” is the math driver: without exposure to non-correlated bets, the portfolio’s expected long-term growth collapses to the core’s growth rate (which decays).
• Practical translation for a small business: of a 5-day week, 0.5 days should go to something with no obvious tie to current revenue. Of a marketing budget, 10% to channels/experiments outside the proven stack.
• Cutting the 10% to “focus” feels disciplined but is the move that locks the business into its current ceiling.