March 8, 2024

196. Startup Maxims: Do Things That Don't Scale

196. Startup Maxims: Do Things That Don't Scale
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon Amazon Music podcast player icon Castbox podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon Deezer podcast player icon Goodpods podcast player icon iHeartRadio podcast player icon Overcast podcast player icon PocketCasts podcast player icon TuneIn podcast player icon
Season 4

Text your thoughts directly to Rich.

This is probably my favorite startup maxim of all. It ties in with the Lean Startup Methodology, and is core to figuring out what you should be building and for whom.

Here is Paul Graham's original article: https://paulgraham.com/ds.html

And maxim I quote, this one from Reid Hoffman: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/arent-any-typos-essay-we-launched-too-late-reid-hoffman/

About AVL Growth Partners
AVL Growth Partners, founded in 2009, is the leading fractional Finance and Accounting firm supporting organizations in pivoting from growth to scale. AVL brings an experienced team of CFOs, Controllers, and Accountants to your organization, delivering transparent, strategic actions for short and long-term success. Transform your financial approach affordably with AVL, supporting companies coast to coast - get to know AVL Growth Partners at avlgrowth.com. (Sponsored)

About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech & insurtech, and logistics & supply chain. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.     

WEBVTT

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:03.339
Do things that don't scale.

00:00:04.089 --> 00:00:07.389
This is another classic piece of startup advice.

00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:11.349
And like a lot of great startup maxims, its over a decade old.

00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:16.539
Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, wrote this in July of 2013.

00:00:16.868 --> 00:00:18.638
And yes, a link in the show notes.

00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:21.219
This article is definitely worth a read.

00:00:21.219 --> 00:00:24.969
If you haven't read it ever, or even if you haven't read it in a while.

00:00:25.469 --> 00:00:32.429
He spends most of his time talking about doing things that don't scale as it relates to customer acquisition.

00:00:33.088 --> 00:00:34.259
Have a narrow market.

00:00:34.588 --> 00:00:37.048
Do manual installs with users.

00:00:37.418 --> 00:00:39.908
Work one-on-one with your customers.

00:00:40.149 --> 00:00:48.335
Do whatever you need to do to sit beside your customer and experience the product through their eyes, side-by-side with them.

00:00:49.155 --> 00:00:55.615
So much of building a startup is experimentation, getting that feedback so that you can experiment and build.

00:00:56.345 --> 00:01:02.036
If you think about the lean startup methodology, the essence is build, measure, learn.

00:01:03.036 --> 00:01:06.335
Eric Marcoullier talked about this in last week's episodes in two different ways.

00:01:06.796 --> 00:01:10.126
He talked about overbuilding as a number one killer of startups.

00:01:10.275 --> 00:01:12.676
If you built too much, you can't take it out to market.

00:01:13.396 --> 00:01:18.956
This ties in nicely with another startup maxim that I didn't cover this week, and that's the one from Reed Hoffman.

00:01:19.506 --> 00:01:27.266
If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late." The second part of Eric's advice is around measure.

00:01:27.926 --> 00:01:32.962
If you have too many features, you can't measure, what's working and what's not working.

00:01:33.962 --> 00:01:36.572
Bringing this back to do things that don't scale.

00:01:37.072 --> 00:01:43.403
This is such a great piece of advice because when you're doing things that don't scale, you are hands-on with your users,.

00:01:43.942 --> 00:01:48.433
You are out doing the sales, you're out gathering information in the field.

00:01:49.212 --> 00:02:00.522
As you suck in all of that information, you can pour it into just a single direction for a single feature to solve that single problem that is the white hot center of your user's pain.

00:02:01.522 --> 00:02:06.742
Starting out, yes, you absolutely have to do things that don't scale.

00:02:07.313 --> 00:02:11.372
I think of all the startup maxims, this one holds its weight the best.

00:02:12.372 --> 00:02:18.763
That's all for this week as always, time is our most precious asset and I'm grateful you'd spend some of it with me today.

00:02:19.263 --> 00:02:22.862
And I'm grateful for AVL Growth Partners For supporting the VC minute.

00:02:23.193 --> 00:02:27.073
AVL's team brings significant years of finance and accounting expertise.

00:02:27.372 --> 00:02:30.673
They ensure your path to success is crystal clear.

00:02:31.173 --> 00:02:38.402
AVL starts with a comprehensive business evaluation, uncovering opportunities and mapping actions to both your short and longterm goals.

00:02:38.902 --> 00:02:44.817
Their evaluations are crafted from over a decade of experience pivoting companies from growth to scale.

00:02:45.317 --> 00:02:49.877
If you want to take your company to the next level and need the experience required to make it happen.

00:02:50.377 --> 00:02:53.167
Visit AVL growth.com right now.