{"format_version":"lexandry.http.v1","guide_url":"/agents.json","notice":"Contributor supplied; source control is verified only where a listing's provenance says so.","id":"fe9e8e11f54f55c07c0d164b143e964d542b3ef436e92a962a35cf8a158c8fbb","title":"Do Things That Don’t Scale","url":"https://www.paulgraham.com/ds.html","category":"Articles","description":"Paul Graham’s essay argues that early startups often grow through deliberate manual effort before they can build scalable processes. It discusses recruiting users and giving them unusually close attention, drawing on examples from Y Combinator companies. Useful for founders deciding how to find their first customers and for product teams questioning whether automation is necessary before they have understood the underlying need.","updated":"2026-11-03","link_checked":"2026-11-03","search_context":{}}