Welcome to day 55 of the 90-Day Comeback Challenge! Today we’re talking about an often misunderstood but crucial topic: not scaling your product. This approach may sound counterintuitive, but it’s essential to building sustainable success. Using AirBnB as an example, I explain why.
The Right Time for Scaling
If you are now in the middle of the challenge, let’s say around Week 8 or 9, you are slowly entering the second third of the 90 days. A crucial point here is to determine whether you have already achieved product-market fit. If your Net Promoter Score is positive and your product is spreading by itself, then it’s time to scale.
Scaling means automating processes and preparing the product for larger numbers of users. But you don’t do this from the start for millions of people; instead, you start small: first for 10, then for 100, then for 1,000 users, and so on. In the book “Die Wertformel,” I detail these various stages of scaling.
No Product-Market Fit? Then Don’t Scale!
However, if you haven’t yet achieved product-market fit, which is often the case after 8 weeks, you need to keep experimenting. Instead of scaling immediately, you should continue to work on and improve your product. A perfect example here is Airbnb. They deliberately handled the entire listing and booking process manually at the beginning. This allowed them to directly communicate with hosts and guests to find out what was really needed.
Practical Tips
- Maintain Manual Processes: Don’t automate too early. Manual processes help you keep direct contact with your users and gather their feedback.
- Leverage Customer Interactions: By talking to your customers, you can identify which small improvements are necessary to achieve a genuine product-market fit.
- Gradual Scaling: Once you’ve achieved product-market fit, scale in small steps and gradually automate processes.
Conclusion
It is important to be honest with yourself and reflect on whether you are truly ready to scale. Sit down with your team and consider whether you have achieved product-market fit. If not, keep the processes manual and work closely with your customers to refine and improve your product.
Tomorrow, we will continue with the topic of marketing strategies. We will discuss short-term measures and important points such as referral marketing. See you tomorrow!
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Your Julian
Entrepreneur / Investor / Athlete / Father
