Excellent read and dead-on. It's something I'm working on every day since launch and will be a good point of reference should I need reminding.
Do Things that Don't Scale
61–70 of 223 posts
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#62This bums me out. Majorly. I work at a YC startup (which will remain nameless), and we function exactly the opposite of how this essay suggests. We aren't huge by any means, but we focus heavily on scale, and suppress ideas that do not scale. Automate everything. Nothing should be manual . I'm an engineer, but I recognize the importance of fantastic customer service. While building an iPhone app, I suggested that use…
How would you define "manual user acquisition"?
Thanks for posting this. I hope you and others write more on failed products/companies. They are very enlightening, despite the details left out for privacy/embarrassment.
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#63I saw this on a miniature scale when I created a new subreddit ( http://reddit.com/r/LSAT ) I spent about two weeks creating quality articles for the sidebar, personally replying to every submission/comment, manually recruiting anyone who mentioned the LSAT, and reaching out to moderators of related subreddits for links. Mercifully, a subreddit is a small thing to launch, and after two weeks the place became self-sus…
Thats a great way to practice user acquisition.
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#64Who wants to start a user-acquisition startup?
The elasticsales link looks interesting. I've heard alot of people have had good results from betali.st
Though i submitted my startup over 2 months ago and havent heard anything back.
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#65> I have never once seen a startup lured down a blind alley by trying too hard to make their initial users happy. Aren't lots of service companies killed this way? Bending over backward for some client? Maybe they are small companies rather than startups... Guess I'm being picky though: pg's point is an excellent one.
I interpret "bending over backwards" as compromising the business model, which does have the potential to kill the business. However, I believe pg is alluding to good customer service.
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#66TLDR: Startups that try to focus on big launches are generally lazy. Success comes from putting in extraordinary effort to putting your customer first. This means you get super-enthusiastic users. This works by the principle of compound growth as users tell their friends. Somewhat ironically I am of the opinion that: (A) this is one of pg's best and most useful essays ever (B) it is partially more useful because it i…
Somehow many of his essays look "the best ever" when they just come out ;) Take for example Startup = Growth which did have an impact back in the day, but already feels somewhat outdated.
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#67I saw this on a miniature scale when I created a new subreddit ( http://reddit.com/r/LSAT ) I spent about two weeks creating quality articles for the sidebar, personally replying to every submission/comment, manually recruiting anyone who mentioned the LSAT, and reaching out to moderators of related subreddits for links. Mercifully, a subreddit is a small thing to launch, and after two weeks the place became self-sus…
Thats a great way to practice user acquisition.
For anyone interested in using a subreddit to practice acquiring users:
Metareddit lets you track all mentions of keywords or phrases across Reddit. It let me find literally everyone who commented about the LSAT.
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#68This is brilliant, easily a top-10 of PGs.
re: consulting-- one advanced technique is to put the consulting "into a box" i.e. define precisely what the consulting package is, and offer this standard service at a standard price. If investors/etc. give you flak, tell them that your customers need this anyway, and at least your getting paid for the trouble. FYI I'm doing this now: many of our customers are young companies that need advice, and instead of taking an hour+ to give it free, we take a few hours and charge them. The actual work can be delivered by a number of people, so it scales fine.
adam (6 startups, 3 IPOs - #7 takes this advice to a whole new level and we're winning big, in spite of concern from my friends in tech, who exactly fall into the trap PG is talking about)
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#69I can think of quite a few startups that used a big bang launch with press with success. Off the top of my head - Instagram (MG's series of pieces on Techcrunch), Mailbox, Flipboard, Square, Path. I get where PG is coming from but press can help bootstrap a network effect if you have none.
But how many of those were really "initial" launches vs. a big launch after you already did a lot of legwork (while in closed beta, for example) and the planets were already well aligned?starting to wonder
Re: Do Things that Don't Scale
#70I've been thinking about this "narrow focus" idea, and I'm not sure how to or whether I should apply it to my own idea. I'm working on building a tool that's supposed to provide a free-form way to record and organize ideas. I think it could be especially useful to writers, and I use my prototype for task tracking. But if I target it to any specific group, I'm afraid it will get pigeon-holed as a "writer's tool" or "t…
From someone who's never actually done the startup thing: when you feel like your product is good enough to stand alone, outside of the specific domain you originally targeted for, you likely have to have a second round of "initial" user acquisition, where you cater to, and iterate on, the needs of more general users you recruit.