Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don’t Scale

Paul Graham’s 2013 essay “Do Things That Don’t Scale” transformed Silicon Valley’s startup culture, urging founders to focus on immediate customer acquisition over premature scalability concerns. In a Y Combinator discussion, group partners highlight how startups like Airbnb, Instacart, and DoorDash succeeded by embracing unscalable tactics. Airbnb manually photographed listings, Instacart bought and photographed grocery items, and DoorDash used Google Forms and manual tracking for deliveries. These manual efforts helped validate demand, learn customer needs, and build early traction. Founders are encouraged to prioritize learning, engage directly with customers, and avoid fixation on scalable solutions initially. However, transitioning to scalable processes is crucial once product-market fit is achieved, guided by advisors.
Source:Y Combinator

Back to Lesson