The Unscalable Things That Scale Startups
When you're building a startup, especially in the early days, it's not about perfection—it's about velocity. I reflect on the "unscalable" things I did as a founder that ended up creating leverage, compounding product insight, and accelerating growth.
Ben Neigher
Former Founder, Staff Software Engineer
In the early days of a startup, you often hear advice about building scalable systems from day one. But sometimes, the most valuable things you can do are the ones that don't scale.
Manual Customer Onboarding
I spent hours manually onboarding each customer, which seemed inefficient at the time. But this direct interaction provided invaluable insights into user needs and pain points.
Personal Customer Support
Answering every support email personally might not scale, but it builds deep relationships and reveals product issues that automated systems might miss.
Hand-Crafted Solutions
Building custom solutions for early customers might seem like technical debt, but it often reveals the core patterns that should be productized.
The Leverage Effect
These "unscalable" activities compound over time, creating insights and relationships that become your competitive advantage.