Embrace the Power of Doing Unscalable Things to Spark Exponential Growth

In the thick of building a new travel company, Brian and his cofounders often found themselves short on users and even shorter on cash. Rather than waiting for mass-market traction, they flew across the country to visit early users in person. They knocked on doors, helped people upload photos for their listings, and even wrote paper checks on the spot. These early adopters didn’t just give feedback—they became loyal ambassadors, telling friends and neighbors about the personal service they’d received. The founders weren’t above hustling: hand-assembling custom cereal boxes to raise rent money, cold-emailing bloggers, and patiently fielding mundane customer questions late at night.

What’s striking about this phase is that none of it was efficient or scalable in the traditional business sense. But the lessons—real conversations, identifying pain points, understanding user stories—would shape their future platform, brand, and culture. The phrase “do things that don’t scale” became an operational rule, not a failure. Once the foundation of trust and community was set, they later found ways to automate, delegate, or digitize those touchpoints as growth accelerated. Many celebrated marketplace businesses echo this sequence: genuine, boots-on-the-ground effort, followed by smart systematization.

Find one opportunity this week to connect directly and personally—rather than through email blasts or group chats—with the people you’re serving or hoping to serve. Don’t worry if it’s inefficient: send a handwritten note, show up to a meeting unannounced, or deliver something by hand. Notice the reactions, capture feedback, and look for small ideas you can scale up later. Remember, your willingness to hustle in these unscalable ways could be the flywheel that unlocks much bigger opportunities down the line.