Founders: Do things that don’t scale.
Embedding oneself directly into the customer experience and addressing problems hands-on, even in ways that don’t scale, is crucial for building a successful startup in its early stages....
Doing the unscalable is key to early-stage growth and problem validation. Understanding real-world pain points requires immersing oneself in the ecosystem, connecting deeply with customers, and addressing problems hands-on. For example, the Doordash founders served as delivery drivers themselves, not only to validated their idea but gained first-hand insights into the nuances of the problem.
Success is often born from scrappy experimentation and direct involvement.