Do Things That Don’t Scale
Day 358 / 366
I came across this article from Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, a while back.
But now that I am building a product of my own with my team, I gave it another read and here are some things that resonated with me
Acquire Users Manually
Getting people to use your app in the beginning is tough especially if you are making something that is different than what’s already out there. To start with, you will have to manually go to potential customers and ask them to try out your product. Of course, this is something that will never scale, you will never acquire 100k users this way.
Organic growth can come later. But at the beginning, go out manually and grow your user base.
Deliver exceptional customer service
This is also something that you can do when you are small. Give extra attention to your initial users. Listen to their feedback, and try and make changes to deliver them what they want. This builds customer trust and loyalty, and will also help with word-of-mouth promotion.
Embrace your fragility
“It’s harmless if reporters and know-it-alls dismiss your startup. They always get things wrong. It’s even ok if investors dismiss your startup; they’ll change their minds when they see growth. The big danger is that you’ll dismiss your startup yourself.”
All startups are fragile in the beginning. You are expected to get things wrong. But it helps to have a team that believes in your vision.