Three Horizons Allocation
H1 extends the core, H2 builds adjacencies, H3 bets on breakthroughs. 70/20/10 of attention is the workable allocation. The harder discipline is killing what's underperforming.
McKinsey's Three Horizons is a portfolio frame: H1 extends the core business, H2 builds emerging businesses adjacent to it, H3 creates breakthrough innovation that may not pay for years. The mistake most operators make is to treat H1 as "the real work" and H2/H3 as side projects, which guarantees you'll be disrupted by someone who took H3 seriously.
A workable allocation for a multi-venture operator is roughly 70/20/10 of attention — most of the energy keeping the core compounding, real investment in adjacencies that will mature in two to three years, a small but deliberate bet on something that might reshape the category in five.
The harder discipline is killing H2 and H3 work that's underperforming. Most portfolios die not from missing the right bet, but from refusing to cut the wrong one.