Do Things that Don't Scale
Key ideas
Graham argues startups take off because founders push them by hand: recruiting users one by one, over-delighting them, and doing manual work before automating.
- 1
Startups need a manual push
Graham argues startups rarely take off on their own; founders must crank them into motion. The most common way is going out and recruiting users individually, as Stripe and Airbnb did.
- 2
Small numbers compound
He says founders dismiss early manual recruiting because the numbers look tiny, underestimating compound weekly growth. He also warns against judging a fragile young startup by the standards of established ones.
- 3
Make the user experience insanely great
Graham suggests early founders go to extraordinary lengths to delight users, since small companies can offer attention big ones can't. Close engagement with early users also provides the feedback that makes the product good.
- 4
Start narrow, or be the software
Tactics he describes include focusing on a deliberately narrow market, building for a single user like a consultant, assembling hardware yourself, or doing by hand what you'll later automate.
- 5
Big launches and partnerships rarely work
Graham argues launches matter little and partnerships usually yield little. He proposes thinking of a startup idea as a pair: what you build plus the unscalable things you'll do to get started.
In Paul’s words
“Actually startups take off because the founders make them take off.”
Paul Graham·Do Things that Don't Scale·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)“I have never once seen a startup lured down a blind alley by trying too hard to make their initial users happy.”
Paul Graham·Do Things that Don't Scale·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)“It's not enough just to do something extraordinary initially. You have to make an extraordinary effort initially.”
Paul Graham·Do Things that Don't Scale·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)Connected in lessons
About this entry
- Published
- Jul 2013 (month only)
- Publisher
- paulgraham.com
- Type
- Essay
- Language
- English
- Added
- Nov 1, 2026
- Source last checked
- Nov 1, 2026
Cover photo of Paul Graham, not from this work: Gabor Cselle, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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