Reading rank 352
Do Things That Don't Scale
, subject: Business essay, 2013
Paul Graham's essay argues that early work which cannot scale can still help build a large company.
53
Coverage Score
8
Scored evidence
About this work
The essay uses manual recruiting, concierge service, narrow initial markets, and direct user feedback to explain why deliberately unscalable work can create the conditions for later growth.
Why read it
Best if you are starting a company and wonder whether hands-on work that will never scale is worth your time.
Key themes
- Unscalable work belongs to the early stage
- The method does not have to scale
Evidence and original sources
Sources: official Founders episodes — #71, #72, #223, #233, #275, #279
This record is supported by 8 public evidence rows linked to original Founders episodes.
- Jeff Bezos' Shareholder Letters — David identifies Do Things That Don't Scale as a famous essay and recommends that everybody read it.
- Stan Lee: Founder of Marvel — David uses the named essay to frame Stan Lee's direct, non-scalable work with customers.
- Unstoppable: Siggi Wilzig's Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend — David calls Paul Graham's essay 'Do Things That Don't Scale' a great essay.
- Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin (PayPal) — David applies Graham's early-stage unscalable-work principle to PayPal's manual restaurant research.
- Paul Graham — David calls it one of his absolute favorite essays.
- What I Learned Before I Sold to Warren Buffett — David applies Graham's named idea to Estée Lauder's high-touch customer service without converting praise of Lauder into praise of the essay.