When to scale your startup?
“Do things that don’t scale” is one of my favorite quotes from Paul Graham.
I believe this principle is shared among all the best founders I’ve met in person.
Legendary English-American programmer Paul Graham. Crédit photo: Sarah Harlin – http://www.paulgraham.com/images.html via w:en:Image:Paulgraham_240x320.jpg
Another common trait among them is their timing on when to start scaling!
Earlier this year, I was personally conducting most of the demos for the OpenBB Terminal Pro, regardless of whether the lead was cold, warm, or hot. This hands-on approach was crucial because it allowed me to understand what aspects of our product resonated most with users and to incorporate their feedback.
However, I soon realized that many users did not fall within our Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Thus, which meant the feedback I received was not always directly applicable to our product. As a result, the return on investment for these calls was quite low.
To address this, two months ago, I decided to replicate the key elements of my demo calls in a recorded 12-minute video, which is available here: Demo Video. Now, when I receive a cold inbound request for a demo, I ask more qualifying questions to filter prospects and then send them the demo link.
- If they answer my questions, it indicates intent, and I try to schedule a call.
- If they don’t respond, I assume they have filtered themselves out but still have access to the demo, which they can share with others.
By automating this process, I save significant time. Previously, I was conducting four 30-minute sales calls per day, plus spending an additional 30 minutes per day preparing demos, researching prospects, and context switching. This added up to at least 2.5 hours per day not spent on product development.
In conclusion, had I continued this rate for the past two months, I would have spent approximately 100 hours doing demos.
Instead, I’ve been able to use that time to iterate on our product and refine our strategy. This approach has allowed me to focus on high-impact activities that drive our business forward while still providing potential customers with the information they need.
When to scale your startup? Written by OpenBB CEO Didier Rodrigues Lopes
