Y Combinator: What to do before the explosive growth
We demand from startups to grow constantly.
This is a true and very good recommendation, but I think the current fashion for startups in Silicon Valley has an unhealthy extreme — startups have weekly growth rates, but they completely lack a strong idea behind the product.
(Sam Altman, President Y Combinator)
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In the first few weeks of a startup’s life, the founders really need to figure out what they are doing and why. Then they need to create a product that users will love. Only after that they should focus on growth.
A startup that is prematurely focused on growth often ends with the creation of a foggy product that some consumers like and is smoothed by an explosive mouth (growth hacking). This type of work will fool investors at least briefly until they start digging into the metrics of retained customers, and then the song is finished.
I think the correct initial criterion is “Do users like our product so much that they advise it to their friends?” Until there is a “yes”, it is usually better for founders to focus on this instead of the goal of growth.
The best technology companies sometimes take a little time to figure out exactly what they are doing. But when they do, they usually pass a binary test before they throw all their energy into growth. This is a critical moment for companies to make a very good product [1]. And if you do not understand, no explosive growth will make you a large company.
As a note, startups that didn’t understand the product that users like, also seem to rarely develop a sense of duty that the best companies have.
[1] Another thing these companies have, and usually also quickly understand, is the realization of the benefits of monopoly.
Translation: Natalia Zarutskaya
This is a true and very good recommendation, but I think the current fashion for startups in Silicon Valley has an unhealthy extreme — startups have weekly growth rates, but they completely lack a strong idea behind the product.
(Sam Altman, President Y Combinator)
')
In the first few weeks of a startup’s life, the founders really need to figure out what they are doing and why. Then they need to create a product that users will love. Only after that they should focus on growth.
A startup that is prematurely focused on growth often ends with the creation of a foggy product that some consumers like and is smoothed by an explosive mouth (growth hacking). This type of work will fool investors at least briefly until they start digging into the metrics of retained customers, and then the song is finished.
I think the correct initial criterion is “Do users like our product so much that they advise it to their friends?” Until there is a “yes”, it is usually better for founders to focus on this instead of the goal of growth.
The best technology companies sometimes take a little time to figure out exactly what they are doing. But when they do, they usually pass a binary test before they throw all their energy into growth. This is a critical moment for companies to make a very good product [1]. And if you do not understand, no explosive growth will make you a large company.
As a note, startups that didn’t understand the product that users like, also seem to rarely develop a sense of duty that the best companies have.
[1] Another thing these companies have, and usually also quickly understand, is the realization of the benefits of monopoly.
Translation: Natalia Zarutskaya
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/310866/
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