Hi there -
Here is this week’s “1 principle, 2 strategies, and 3 actionable tactics” for running lean…
1 Universal Principle
“Will it scale?” is the wrong question to ask about your startup idea.
When I first started blogging about startup methodologies, I had exactly four readers – and I was one of them!
I spent 8 hours writing each blog post. My entrepreneur friends thought I’d lost my mind, asking how I could afford to take this much time away from my startup.
When I told them I had doubled my readership from 4 to 8 readers (100% growth!), they weren’t amused. Instead, I was met with: “But will it scale?”
I kept writing. That doubling continued: 16 readers, then 32, then over a thousand within 4 months.
Readers asked for an ebook. I began speaking publicly, running workshops, hosting meetups, and creating what would become the Lean Canvas.
At every step, I heard the same question: “But will it scale?”
Sixteen months later, I had a best-selling book and a software tool used by over 3 million people today.
The irony? By NOT focusing on scale early on, I built something that scaled massively.
2 Underlying Strategies at Play
I. You can’t scale something that isn’t repeatable.
Most entrepreneurs rush to the right side of the hockey-stick curve, obsessing over scaling risks when they haven’t validated if they’re building something worth scaling.
It’s like worrying about traffic jams on your rocket ship to Mars when you haven’t built an engine that works.
Every unicorn went through the flat portion of the hockey stick first. That’s where the real magic happens – where successful founders unlock insights and secrets that others don’t see yet.
The best startups don’t start with scaling. They start with learning.
II. Starting tiny lets you focus on starting risks, not scaling risks.
When you start small, you can:
- Test lots of ideas quickly without fear of sunk costs.
- Get real feedback fast from motivated early adopters.
- Pivot and make drastic changes when necessary.
- Only build things people demonstrably want.
The most successful founders pack more iterations per unit of time than others.
3 Actionable Tactics
I. Start with just 10 handpicked early adopters.
Not a hundred or thousand – just 10 people. If you can’t repeatedly deliver value to 10 people, what makes you think your product will work for hundreds?
My blog started with tens of readers, grew to hundreds, then thousands. The same goes for Lean Canvas, and every product I’ve launched since then.
II. Ask better questions instead of “will it scale?”
- Is this idea worth pursuing at all?
- What assumptions must be true for this to work?
- How can I test the riskiest assumptions first, quickly, and cheaply?
- What’s the smallest version I can build to start learning in the next 90 days?
III. Use a staged 10x growth approach.
Instead of an all-out public launch, grow systematically:
- Level 1: Tens of people
- Level 2: Hundreds of people
- Level 3: Thousands of people
Like video game levels, each stage tests your riskiest assumptions. You don’t jump from level 1 to level 10 – you progressively level up, making the scaling journey more manageable and systematic.
That’s all for today. See you next week
Ash
Author of Running Lean and creator of Lean Canvas
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P.S. This week's video:
https://youtu.be/mfVW3ZStJH0
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P.P.S.
Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
1 - Shortcut your startup with my free Just Start email course
2 - Take my 30-day Business Model Design Challenge
