Stealing Is a Skill

The author argues that "stealing"—carefully studying and recreating others' successful work—is a valuable creative skill that accelerates learning and innovation. Using the "3% approach" popularized by designer Virgil Abloh, the author rebuilt their marketing site by pixel-perfectly copying Mintlify's design, then made intentional modifications that revealed insights about their own brand and product. The key insight is that by deeply understanding existing solutions (the 100%), creators can efficiently identify what actually needs to change (the 3%) rather than starting from scratch.