0–10 Rule: How to get the it right for an early stage startup

Paul Graham famously said — “do things that don’t scale”

But how do founders execute that during the early days of the startup, every single day? What kind of decisions should you take? What kind of resources do you need to procure? What’s the mindset of the early employees you’ll be working with?

Maybe you’ll hire C-level executives*, who’ve been very successful at top MNCs. But in spite of that, many of them can’t seem to get the magic right in your startup. Let’s examine why.

I call it the 0–10 rule (early stage) & 10–100 rule (late stage). In short, some people are best suited for 0–10 & others for 10-100.

Since 0–10 is the space where you’ll have limited resources at your disposal, you’ll need people that are able to rapidly innovate with just that. You need guys who fit the 0–10 rule. Here’s I think how you could identify them —

• A can-do attitude. They use available resources to their advantage and see the glass as half-full, not half-empty
• They’re curious, maybe even annoyingly so and not afraid to ask questions or be questioned. They approach problems with an open mindset — not rigidity and preconceived notions.
• They don’t worry about ‘how to reach 100’ on Day 1. They’ll crack the first 10 first. And they know that what applies for 0–10, does not necessarily apply for 10–100, so why worry now.
• They’re action-takers. They’re ready to take risks, act on ideas and make balanced decisions with minimum available information.
• They’ve got a breadth of exposure and so are not scared of ambiguity and uncertainty. They’re ready to tread unchartered territories.
• Their business strategies or product decisions follow a similar pattern — “just get things done until we reach 10, and then we figure out how to reach the next 50, 100, 500..”

This is exactly what I look for in early employees of Shipwaves, an early-stage company.

• It’s my observation that senior executives of larger companies have huge assets at their disposal — be it the resources, data/information, access to company network, or the funds itself. Their working style depends on the availability of these assets, which if not available, impacts their decision making ability. I feel many of these personality types are largely suited to the 50–100 or even 100–1000 stage.

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