590: (Solo) Why You Need to Do Things That Don’t Scale

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When you’re just starting out, the fastest way to grow isn’t automation, ads, or scaling systems — it’s doing things that don’t scale. In this episode, I share why the most successful founders — from billion-dollar startups to small ecommerce brands — all begin by leaning into the unscalable. From replying personally to every email, to sending hundreds of Instagram DMs, to handwriting thank-you cards for early customers, these strategies create the kind of emotional connection that big brands can’t compete with. Here’s what you’ll take away: • Why doing things that don’t scale is your biggest advantage as a small brand • Real examples of how I and other founders used this to grow early traction • Specific tactics you can start today to build stronger customer relationships If you’re an early-stage founder, this episode will show you exactly how to build momentum, create raving fans, and uncover what truly works — long before you scale. This is a brand new solo series I’m testing, and I’d love your feedback. Email me directly at [email protected] — I read every reply. Hope you enjoy it. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://your.omnisend.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ → Already have a store? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ BOOST REVENUE WITHOUT MORE ADS We use Aftersell for simple post-purchase offers that lift sales fast. ⁠⁠https://try.aftersell.app/ptiz4gnmvff7⁠⁠ to get started. CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Founder Fam, I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with Omniscend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e-commerce founders. We've been recommending OmnisCent to Founder students for a while now because it just works. Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling the seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results.
0:24.0	Did you know on average, Omnysend customers make $68 for every $1 they spend, which is an insanely good return on investment.
0:32.6	And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code Founder 50.
0:39.3	Just head to Omnisend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started.
0:45.0	All right. Now let's jump back into the show.
0:49.0	Hey guys, welcome back to another solo episode where I share all the lessons that I've learned
0:53.5	building founder the past
0:54.8	decade to really help you on your journey. It's a short, bite-sized episodes. So today I want to talk to you
1:01.1	about one thing that I first heard about from a guy called Paul Graham. So I make no claim to this one,
1:07.4	and it's doing things that don't scale. Hear the stories. Learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through
1:16.0	entrepreneurship. Welcome to the founder podcast with Nathan Chan.
1:24.1	So when you're an early stage founder, it is so incredibly important not to try and systematize everything,
1:32.3	not to try and automate everything, and not to try and think too much further ahead on your journey.
1:39.8	You want to do things that don't scale because this is so incredibly important to get on the
1:45.6	ground and get to know your customer, get to find out what's working because that's the magic
1:52.2	when you're starting a business.
1:54.0	It's really about curiosity.
1:55.7	It's really about understanding things and doing things that don't scale because a lot of
1:59.8	those things you won't want to scale. a lot of these things won't work. So there's a lot of power when it comes to doing things that don't scale when you're small, and this is how you compete literally with large brands. So because you don't have a massive team, because you don't have a massive budget, because you're just starting out, this means you can do things that don't scale. You can be personal. You can do one to one.
2:21.3	And I'm going to give you some examples on my journey and things that I've seen from super successful
2:26.3	founders, how they use this approach to really find the gold to effectively work out what to scale.
2:32.3	So let me tell you a quick story and give you an example of this.
	...

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