Want to build an amazing company? Do things that don't scale. That advice was popularized at Y Combinator, the famed tech startup accelerator that helped launch Airbnb, DoorDash, Dropbox, Reddit, Stripe, and many more household names. But the advice applies equally - and, we would argue, even more important to small businesses.
Why? First, let's talk about what it means. Doing things that don't scale means devoting a time-consuming amount of care to things. "Startups take off because the founders make them take off," writes Paul Graham, one of the founders of Y Combinator. That means recruiting customers yourself, one at a time. Having long, thoughtful conversations with them. Going out of your way to delight them. Providing hands-on, customized services.
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