No problem too small

One Idea Monday #6: "Do things that don't scale"

I met Tim Carry, Hemisphere Restaurant Partner last Monday who said: “Everything matters in our culture. There’s no problem too small to be addressed.”

I read Paul Graham’s essay “Do things that don’t scale” and HBR’s legendary article “Welcome to the experience economy” (thanks Dung) over the week and noticed some overlaps with Tim’s idea.

In his essay, Paul Graham talks about two “dimensions of work” that early-stage founders should focus on: (1) recruiting users manually and (2) giving them an overwhelmingly good experience. He discusses how some founders let their ego take over and are afraid to “lose their public image” if they “beg” individual customers to use the product. Founders worry that recruiting customers manually won’t scale without realizing that at this early stage, they should focus on product-market fit, not scale.

There are two bullet points I really like about Paul Graham’s essay. The first one is the obsession with the user’s experience. The difference between your small startup and Apple is that you can provide a level of service no Apple (or Google) can.

It's not the product that should be insanely great, but the experience of being your user.

If the experience is great, they will forgive a buggy product.

The second point is about “The big launch” and how insignificant that is. Do you remember the launch date of AirBnB? Google? Amazon? Spotify? No. Paul argues that all founders need from a launch is a number of early adopters. The momentum and success will be determined by how happy you make them feel, not how many were there.

Paul’s essay reminds me of the importance of a servitude mindset. Regardless of how big of a shot you think you are, as a founder, you are the servant of your team and your customers.

Do things that don’t scale.

Do things that improve the experience of your customers, no matter how small.