--- title: "What can creators learn from The Third Door?" description: "Alex Banayan's The Third Door in 11 frameworks with steps, and the four Tom Sharman lessons it backs." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/ updated: 2026-11-03 --- # The Third Door > Alex Banayan's The Third Door in 11 frameworks with steps, and the four Tom Sharman lessons it backs. The frameworks here are Alex Banayan's, from The Third Door. Claude read the book in Tom's Brain and linked it to his lessons. ## How Tom uses this - [Assumptions made too fast, and risk avoided](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/assumptions-made-too-fast-and-risk-avoided/index.md): Alex's worst case and best case lists and Elliott's 'bite off more than you can chew' both favour cheap, fast risks over waiting for certainty. (pp. 22, 89, 94 and 98) - [Find the voice in what already worked for them](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/find-the-voice-in-what-already-worked-for-them/index.md): Chapter fifteen shows copying another person's playbook fails and the way through is to lean on what already makes you distinct, and Larry King says the same of interview styles. (pp. 119, 120 and 177) - [Signals show before numbers, and numbers come at month four](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/signals-show-before-numbers-and-numbers-come-at-month-four/index.md): Elliott says there is no tipping point, only little steps, and that a tipping point only appears in hindsight, which fits waiting for lagging results. (pp. 77 and 207) - [People online are selfish, so lead with what they get](https://tomsharman.com/lessons/people-online-are-selfish-so-lead-with-what-they-get/index.md): Buffett got meetings by offering to save businessmen tax, and Alex's summary is to work out what they need and use it as the way in. (p. 143) - Author: Alex Banayan - Pages: 279 - ISBN: 9780804136662 - Chapters: 12 - Frameworks: 11 - Categories: Life and thinking, Personal brand, Offers and pricing, Sales and negotiation - Book 43 of 46 on the bookshelf: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/index.md ## What it argues Banayan argues that careers launch through a Third Door that you create by jumping out of the queue, because the main entrance is crowded and the VIP entrance is closed to most people. The working method is the Spielberg Game: jump off the tour bus, find an Inside Man who will put their reputation behind you, and ask for help. Getting in takes Borrowed Credibility, a short specific cold email, a story that commands attention and a pipeline of many attempts, so that no single no matters. He also shows the failure modes at length: copying someone else's playbook, persisting until you are blacklisted, and acting from desperation until you miss red flags. The interviews with Gates, Wozniak, Pitbull, Angelou and Quincy Jones end up redefining success as humility, learning and growth, with mistakes as the best teacher. ## Worth keeping - The Spielberg Game: jump off the tour bus, find an Inside Man, ask for their help (p. 44). - Borrowed Credibility: volunteer, write or interview your way into a credible association (pp. 54 and 55). - Ferriss' cold email template: sixty seconds, credibility in a line or two, one specific question, an easy out and no 'thanks in advance' (pp. 55 and 56). - Tell your own story, since 'Some choose to make them into stories', and repeating it wears down the Flinch (pp. 81 and 97). - The Avoidance List: choose five of twenty five goals and avoid the other twenty (p. 112). - You can't out-Amazon Amazon: lean on what makes you different and avoid copying a successful person's playbook (pp. 119 and 120). - Business is not target practice, so build a pipeline and treat bullshit no's as noise (pp. 153 and 207). - Over-persistence has a cost: letters, flowers, a shoe and weekly calls ended with a blacklisting (pp. 151, 152 and 205). - Choose long term positioning over short term profit, and build a genuine relationship before you negotiate (pp. 200 and 202). - Mistakes are the greatest gift, so attach to trying and growing (pp. 254 and 255). ## The questions it answers ### How do you build a personal brand that generates inbound rather than requiring outbound? The book is mostly an outbound manual, but Elliott's point that a vivid origin story commands attention (p. 81) and the Borrowed Credibility tactics (p. 55) show what makes people open the door to you. ### Which of my stories travel, and which only feel like they should? Elliott tells Alex his Price Is Right story is what commands attention and has him repeat it to strangers until it lands, a live test of which story travels (pp. 81 and 97). ### How do you price and sell a tool you built for yourself? Elliott's gold, silver and bronze packages made the middle option the likely pick, with a price that 'just sounded right' (p. 93), and Gates advises taking a fair deal now that sets up bigger deals (p. 200). ## The frameworks 1. [The Three Doors](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-three-doors/index.md): A nightclub analogy for the three ways into any career or industry. 2. [The Spielberg Game](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-spielberg-game/index.md): How an unknown gets inside an organisation by finding one person who will vouch for them. 3. [Tim Ferriss cold-email template](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/tim-ferriss-cold-email-template/index.md): A short email for approaching a busy person. 4. [Borrowed Credibility](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/borrowed-credibility/index.md): Attach yourself to credible names so strangers will take you seriously. 5. [Elliott's five rules](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/elliotts-five-rules/index.md): Ground rules for meetings and relationships with powerful people. 6. [The Avoidance List](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-avoidance-list/index.md): Warren Buffett's method of prioritising desires, as passed on by Dan Babcock. 7. [Gold, silver and bronze packages](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/gold-silver-and-bronze-packages/index.md): Elliott's way of pricing a sale with three options. 8. [Frog kissing](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/frog-kissing/index.md): Dean Kamen's approach to deciding between more attempts and stopping. 9. [Cal Fussman's interview practice](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/cal-fussmans-interview-practice/index.md): How Cal retrained Alex to interview by being comfortable. 10. [Bill Gates on closing big deals](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/bill-gates-on-closing-big-deals/index.md): The sales and negotiation lessons Gates gave Alex in his office. 11. [Elliott's pipeline rules](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/elliotts-pipeline-rules/index.md): What to do when you keep hearing bullshit no's. ## Working with Tom on this Tom works with creators and founders one to one, from a single session to a fractional role. [Work with Tom](https://tomsharman.com/consulting/)