Here's what I learned in the past 7 years of SaaS startups:
• Before PM/F: IF you distance -> you don't learn -> slows down progress
• After PM/F: IF you don't distance -> you micromanage -> slows down progress
As a founder of an early-stage startup (before Product/Market Fit), don't try to be a smartass instead, learn as much as possible.
You don't do that by automating but by executing yourself. When you distance – you don't learn. And how will you get to PM/F if you don't learn?
"Doing things that don't scale" means doing something ridiculously manual, critical, and done by YOU.
Example 1: I've scheduled 15min calls with almost every of our first 200 users to learn how they discovered us, how they use networking tools and how they go about their tasks that involve their network.
That worked out to be our current roadmap dot leaddelta dot com.
Example 2: I repeated the same process for our first 100 subscriptions. I would also send a highly personalized email.
That turned into referrals and growth loops.
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What are your experiments with "Doing things that don't scale"?
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