Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

[@ycombinator]

What's something you've done at your own startup that is a good example of "doing things that don't scale"?

[@MarkMark]

“Pied Piper does not scale” we would start by doing things by hand and then we would codify them. That helped us 1. really understand the problems we would later automate away, and also 2. prevented wasteful premature investment in things that didn’t matter.

[@yapstack]

Running social media marketing by myself for 5,000 real estate agents so I can learn both sides. Luckily AI arrived so I can finally scale it.

[@fahanibrahimhashi]

Get early users to write their anonymous feedback on pieces of card that I would then share on social media

[@brendanford7281]

I’m using no code tools for ProFlow’s MVP. I’m curious as to why Y Combinator pushes doing things that don’t scale, but then also aren’t overly interested in no-code tools for short term solutions as they don’t scale? Would love some insight into this! Thanks YC!

[@yapstack]

@@brendanford7281 YC has a short titled "RFS: Better Enterprise Glue" posted April 10 which calls for no code solutions using LLMs to compete with the likes of Oracle and Salesforce. I'm sure if you can elaborate on what problem your tools solve, they would love to hear about it. It's not too late to apply for summer 24.

[@jdconley2713]

PG essays as KZbin with modern examples? I'm here for it! Great stuff!

[@JL-qf3hq]

That’s a very fancy way of saying running experiments with the least amount of set up to get directional information, sacrificing accuracy, precision, repeatability for quick validation. It’s akin to running screening experiments in science when we’re not exactly sure what we’re looking for but want a readout on input/output or stimulus/response to start building a model.

[@kivatinos]

Do things that don't scale is so true, I used to install PCs and run ethernet in the walls of medical clinics just to get to know the medical staff and doctors for my first startup.

[@Joe-sg9ll]

you could have interviewed them instead of spying

[@sandygermsmanson]

Personally, I think one of the best "things that don't scale" things a founder can do is spending a lot of time speaking with customers, even the annoying ones

[@motownmoneygang]

Wow never heard that before... True tho

[@theindubitable]

Agreed

[@theindubitable]

​@@motownmoneygangTruth is worth repeating.

[@motownmoneygang]

@@theindubitable true 💯

[@blackbox1024]

I'd love to do that but how can you get customers in the first place (having started from scratch) ? Most that come from ads and sign up / give their emails don't even reply to emails or requests for a zoom call.

[@MarkoKrkeljas]

I did this exact thing: started a Trader Joe's delivery service. I didn't have outside capital, so instead of buying one of each item like Instacart, I bought people's receipts and took pictures of the items in the store. The service went viral in Manhattan, but Trader Joe's corporate and their lawyers came after me extremely aggressively. Nonetheless, this is good advice.

[@Eltonlin1998]

what would you have done differently - was there, in hindsight, a way to deal with their laywers that lets you win?

[@ojieronato8576]

genuinely curious, why buy their receipts?

[@satg5733]

Yea what’s the go with receipts ?

[@OnePercentFail]

Data on items that sold frequently. Prices?

[@Joe-sg9ll]

​@@satg5733to catalog prices presumably and inefficiently

[@GlobalVentures-TSkillsLLC]

Absolutely loved your video discussing Paul Graham's "Do Things That Don't Scale" philosophy! It's such a timeless piece of advice that resonates deeply, especially in the dynamic world of startups and entrepreneurship. At Global Ventures HQ, we're big believers in this approach too. It's all about focusing on personalized, hands-on support to empower entrepreneurs and businesses at every stage of their journey. Looking forward to more insightful content from you!

[@winkletter]

Interesting! This is an example of *structural coupling* where organisms and environments change in a complementary way through recursive interactions. We think the organism just adapted to external objects, but the organism and environment have to go through a process of co-creating the object. In other words, founders need an environment (users and other stakeholders) to operate within so they can go through this process of object construction (finding the product.) The users are as much a part of this process as the founders. And you shouldn't/can't scale until this structural coupling occurs, which is product-market fit. But again, it's not the product fitting into an existing market. The founder and users interact to create the product-market coupling.

[@AnandBaburajan]

Beautiful

[@Universal7135]

I know this is a bit random, but this is one of the best KZbin comments I've ever read on startups. Is there any way we can connect? I'd love to read more of your insights on these sorts of topics.

[@maxlee429]

very good insight: founders co-create with customers a product-market fit

[@johnjohn12044]

Sorry if this is harsh but, what a long-winded and tedious way of saying that startups should start product testing as early as possible. Seriously, recursive interactions?! Organisms? And then the dude replying to you like "goodness me what you wrote is life-changing, please may I have more wisdom", whew. The level of corporate circlejerk around "founders" is unreal.

[@winkletter]

@@johnjohn12044 I can't disagree that I do overthink things. While I believe VC funding creates overall negatives for society, my comment here is more about structural coupling. I, too, was surprised anyone here found it interesting. In my mind, startups should do more than product testing to find a product that fits the environment. During this startup stage the environment is also changed. This idea of doing things that don't scale is one way of starting a flywheel effect which I would liken to autopoiesis, where a system produces and maintains itself. For example, the manual intervention of Airbnb taking high-quality photos created an expectation with guests and hosts that Airbnb listings should have high-quality photos. This was something they could not have done after scaling.

[@matthewmolinar]

This came at the right time. I got a working mvp together in 3 days, and made a demo too. Got some interest online, but then i started noticing it didn't always work earlier this week. Began re-writing the backend. I'm rethinking that. there's a freaking product, let's go find people

[@EcomCarl]

Absolutely agree on the power of non-scalable actions in the early stages of a startup! It’s those initial, hands-on experiences that really teach founders what their customers truly need. 💡

[@jeroenjansen3835]

Michael Seibel trying really hard to pretend he has not heard the story 1000 times before

[@peterbloomingdale]

I manually verify users on my social platform by calling them individually to ensure they are real. Only reason it worked so far is because I have no users 😊

[@BantuAzania]

😂

[@Ryanwang4092]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂funny,so cute😅😅

[@YourFractionalCMO]

Such a great video. I just sent it over to one of my clients who needs this advice so badly. Thanks for helping me communicate it well!

[@AbassAdebayo]

This video is for me. Thank you YC Partners.

[@service-plus-connect]

Always dropping those gems 💎

[@chapterme]

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) - 00:00 - Intro: Early-stage founders need time for learning 00:14 - YC partners discuss do things that don't scale culture 01:07 - Silicon Valley's obsession with scalable business models 05:41 - Airbnb founders inspired by Paul Grahams urgency 07:52 - Unscalable examples Fleeks clothing marketplace 11:23 - Algolia's support for Product Hunt paid off 12:24 - Strong, exciting founders focus on learning, self-service 13:14 - YC works with best founders for learning, trenches with customers 13:29 - Founder FaceTime with customers advantages, sales tips from Ryan 14:12 - Tips for successful sales and marketing 16:12 - Instacart bought Trader Joes for Instacart deal 19:00 - DoorDash founders describe smart one-day tech build 23:05 - Scale up early, avoid consulting revenue addiction 25:13 - Outro: Experiment quickly and fail fast

[@neugey]

14:00 is the most important part, at least in my sector. Building relationships in your user community is so important. Show them you're worthy of trust before getting them to use your service. 9 times out of 10, brand and relationship is more important than selling.

[@JohnSmith-op7ls]

This essay didn’t transform anything, it’s basically just a rehash of part of lean startup methodology which was already trendy all over the startup scene at the time and before, this essay was written.

[@kirkwoodbharris5110]

There's a difference in doing something that doesn't scale in order to validate a theory (proof of concept) but once you are past that stage, there is a rapid diminishing return to continue that practice without scalability in mind

[@ClaireLumiere-n2f]

This is journeyman advice and not destination lover business advice. What I heard: 1. Set the tone even if you have to do it yourself to get the customers you want. 2. Manage and record delight. 3. Be multi-layered in your approach to energy expenditure to secure profits. 4. Don't miss your moment by thinking about scaleable perfection. 5. Realize non-scalable businesses are secure places for VCs to learn how to/ where to store cash. 6. Humility will maximilize your learnings in case someone scales on your idea before you can.

[@jwolpert]

What’s great about PG is his knack for forming contrarian approaches. “Do things that don’t scale” was a repudiation of an over-emphasis on focusing on scale too soon during the timeframe he was writing. The key to getting value out of PG’s ideas is to take a healthy dose of nuance juice to digest them. And be sure to check whether the times have changed…hint- look for whether PG has written a new post repudiating the dogmas that formed from people blindly following his previous posts. There are a ton of great ways to apply the “do things that don’t scale” principle. Airbnb did a good job of it early (see “The Two But Rule” for one account). But there are many more ways to do this dead wrong. In a nutshell, be clever about the not-scalable experiment you’re running to learn. It’s important that the laws of physics allow some path to a future iteration where you can take those learnings and scale them. If not, take an hour and think of a more clever experiment.

[@hellowill]

This is something I was thinking about trying to start a side project... maybe my own company. I keep thinking like I"m still working at a big company, that simply doesn't make sense.

[@amorosogombe9650]

It's importance to know when to do what.

[@george_davituri]

Recruit users manually and give them an overwhelmingly good experience, provide a level of service no big company can. It's 2024 don't worry about technical scaling, instead care about scalable business model, product market fit, to satisfy customers and things will auto scale.

[@alphaomega1089]

If a lifestyle business, then scalability isn't needed. If created for others, then scalability is the goal. Never trust a rich person. They hate competition. Only so much money to go around. Even if print more: their holdings will devalue. There is a culture: as with kings and dictators; I rule. Only in their silly warped mind. We're not in their dream world. We share it equally with...

[@RevenueMagnet]

Question regarding the Marketplace with Buyers and Sellers: How would you start getting the first user's of a marketplace? Without Seller's, it's not interesting for buyers to browse the marketplace.

[@gorangagrawal]

one way would be to list items from buyers manually and start taking orders

[@swiftclouderp]

Use Google My Business to list sellers. Contact them using cold calling and emailing to claim their business on your platform then quickly move to the demand side and try to get them clients. Do whatever is necessary to connect them even if it's offline. There's almost no one who won't be glad you connected them with a potential customer. Good luck

[@RollingcoleW]

This is the autocomplete video that loads when i type youtube...and press enter too fast. I have heard the Intro hundreds of times.

[@chriswilfrid]

Garry Tan is the best narrator YC ever had. ❤

[@chriswilfrid]

I never thought I would be seeing Jisoo Blackpink talking about startups with spectacle. ❤

[@hadie1825]

Never say “sell yourself”. You’re selling an idea and with it a plan to execute it either by yourself alone or with a team.

[@chimanfok8516]

Love the conversation from the great minds

[@envch]

Scaling a startup comes with its own set of unique challenges. From managing growing teams to ensuring product quality and delivery speed, there are many hurdles to overcome. Has anyone used tools like monday dev to help manage these challenges? Specifically, I'm interested in features like automations. How effective have these tools been for you in scaling your startup?

[@bergencraft334]

I want to create a startup that requires no app. Thoughts?

[@allanshpeley4284]

Interesting stuff, thanks guys.

[@arunkarunagaran]

One of the best content🔥

[@leadgenjay]

Great insights

[@oldmansgoldenwords]

Doing things which doesnt scale only works in service sector. Not core tech company

[@deniwealthflo]

Some of this rules are actually outdated though. Users have gotten used with way more app design that if you launch with crappy UI, you might not get users as much as providing something standard and that will take time. If DoorDash launches that crappy first software I’m sure they will die right off at launch but i understand the overall ‘do things that don’t scale” idea

[@qet-lab]

How can i get Letter of intent if im working on hard tech?Are LOIs part of doing things that dont scale?

[@valerio2658]

6:22 bro on the left clearly started lagging

[@dzlfiqar]

LOL

[@FelipeBarreiros]

I'm watching this video at the gym and wondering. Are people around me dropping stuff or are they doing that in YC HQ? Answer: the latter.

[@kwhandy]

garry carrying whole yc content

[@YourFinanceCopilot]

Making things that dont scale should be at the core, and then go from there 🔥

[@Creative-Catalyst]

I am currently seeking a passionate and driven co-founder to join me on this journey.

[@Twotonn]

What are you working on

[@keeganmerickson]

Wow, silicon valley rediscovered the classic old school honest business practices and how to interact with customers 😂 Go talk to any business owners and farmers in small towns about this and they'll just be thinking, "well duh"

[@mPajuhaan]

Yes, correct points.

[@bwhit7919]

Neither Tik Tok nor OpenAI took this advice. I wonder if this advice still works.

[@rufussweeneymd]

Great point. I think it’s always good advice for SAAS, but for consumer, it might not be top priority to do things that don’t scale.

[@bwhit7919]

@@rufussweeneymd I think it’s more a technological and cultural shift. There are so many scam entrepreneurs out there, and having a quality MVP is a good way to stand out. I also think most of the low hanging fruit has been taken. It’s really tough to organically grow a social media site. This is why Tik Tok paid influencers to come to its platform and acquired another social media site to get its initial users. Tech is changing so quickly that I wonder if YC’s advice is outdated. Sam Altman even said he’s considering deleting his blog because he now disagrees with everything YC says.

[@ycombinator]

You are neither Bytedance able to spend hundreds of millions on ads to buy users, nor Sam Altman able to convince Microsoft to give him billions.

[@ycombinator]

Sam Altman’s advice in that particular case is not usable for 99.99% of founders.

[@deeacosta2734]

Sriya is da boss! 💯

[@aryantyagi_the_goat]

wow i love this vid!

[@fryderykchopin1381]

17:03 jumpscare

[@ycombinator]

Sorry! Noisy office that day.

[@JK360noscope]

I was terrified

[@AbduRahman-iu5bh]

Silicone valley girl recommend channel ❤

[@ChristopherLecky]

Absolutely everything can scale,,,,,,, thus is the nature of reality itself,,, Are you living in an alternate reality to the rest of the world or something? You may have complications scaling unique to your circumstances but that doesn't mean its not possible.......!! kmt

[@Sarah-u2n]

Brown Anthony Thomas Sharon Hernandez Deborah

[@ehhalexx]

Palantir in a nutshell

[@adriankim6886]

4😮”$”

[@michealinaolaji6417]

How do I give this video 50 likes?

[@mikasipilae]

Fire 🔥

[@The_Quaalude]

Funny for you to assume that i have any scalable solutions 😂