On premature scaling

Most early-stage failures come from scaling before finding product-market fit. The symptoms are obvious in retrospect: hiring ahead of revenue, building features no one asked for, optimizing processes that don’t yet work.

The mistake isn’t ambition. It’s mistaking motion for progress.

Real traction shows up in retention, not growth. If people come back without being asked, you have something. If you need escalating acquisition spend to maintain growth, you don’t.

Scale when retention is boring. Until then, stay small, stay close to users, and iterate fast.