Y Combinator Startup Podcast
What Does It REALLY Mean To Do Things That Don't Scale?
Oct 13, 2022
Explore the gritty realities of entrepreneurship and the harsh truths founders face amid the illusions of tech success. Discover how early-stage startups can engage users through personal involvement, illustrated by Reddit's founders. Learn how unscalable strategies like hands-on delivery management helped food startups build customer relationships. Emphasizing the 'do things that don't scale' philosophy, the importance of tedious tasks and direct customer interaction is highlighted as essential for early success.
18:51
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Quick takeaways
- Founders must personally engage in low-prestige tasks to gain insights and ensure quality in the startup phase.
- Transitioning from big tech to startups demands a shift towards imperfection, early launch, and customer feedback over scalability.
Deep dives
Examples of Doing Things That Don't Scale: Reddit and DoorDash
Founders of Reddit started by manually adding links with fake usernames to create the illusion of user activity on day one. Similarly, DoorDash's founders personally handled all food deliveries at the outset instead of building a driver network, enabling direct user interaction, gaining insights, and maintaining quality.
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