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Knowledge / Business & Entrepreneurship

Do Things That Don't Scale

Using founder effort and manual processes to discover what a scalable system should eventually automate.

By Siddhant Krishna · Published 2026-10-06 · Updated 2026-10-06

01

The Principle

Early startups should not reject valuable actions merely because they are manual. A founder can personally recruit users, onboard customers, solve problems, improve listings, or provide extraordinary service.

02

Why It Works

Manual work creates direct customer contact and reveals the real process that eventually needs to be automated or delegated.

03

When to Scale

manual process → repeated process → standardized process → automated process

References

  1. Paul Graham, Y Combinator Startup Library.
    https://www.ycombinator.com/library/96-do-things-that-don-t-scale

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