You’ve captured that all-too-familiar startup moment: whirlwind speed gives way to chaos, and suddenly every tiny decision seems to stall the engine. The switch from “doing everything myself” to “designing systems that do it for me” reads not just as smart advice but as startup survival 101. The bit about proactive structure making space for clarity and pace? Brilliantly or rather, practically - powder‑keg stuff. Bottleneck relief, feature triage and playbooks sound like saviours, not preachy must‑dos.
So, tell me-which early signal in your journey made you realise that building systems must come before building features?
I think when I joined tech in the 90s to capture that 🌊 my Co-Founders were operating at scale on the tech side & I was building scale on the GTM side. It was a match made in heaven. They were "what does it look like if we were processing 100x the volume" & I was like "ok, we're killing it with 5 sales people but this won't work with 100 sales people. We need to design for scale" - you look down the table and minds are meeting and faces are smiling - there is a mentality alignment happening right there 🧡 Also - I'm not that interested in product as weird as that might seem 🤣
The insight that founders often “retain control over too many decisions” resonates deeply. I’ve seen brilliant CEOs become their own worst scaling enemy this way. Your distinction between mechanical vs. moral failure is refreshing; it removes the shame and focuses on the fix. The PostHog example of engineers being product-minded during sprint planning seems like it could dramatically reduce those costly handoffs 🙌🏻
As someone with too many ideas constantly competing for attention, this framework articulates a tension I've felt but couldn't name: the shift from being an idea generator to an architecture designer.
What often gets overlooked is the psychological barrier here. Founders celebrate shipping features because it's visible progress. Shipping systems feels abstract, like building invisible scaffolding instead of a product. Yet that scaffolding is what prevents the entire structure from collapsing under its own weight.
That curation mindset, rather than just the operational checklist, is what separates fragile growth from sustainable scale.
The push for rapid scaling, especially with VC funds, can easily break a startup, whether it’s on the tech side, or on the staffing side. If either goes wrong, or you’re out of runway… the end is the same.
I know that the dominant message is to grow fast, outpace the competition, and, especially at the earliest stages, achieve exponential traction.
The AI race is a prime example. The marathon-long sprint fueled by seemingly infinite funding rounds, as everyone knows that, at the end of the day, there will only be a few products left standing.
As newsworthy as it is, that's not the reality for the overwhelming chunk of all startups. They read the same news, and may follow the same dreams, and yet they play a very different game.
The game, where sticking to a small team and modest vision gives better odds of succeeding. And in a more likely case of a failure, it's less costly (=more salvageable).
Addition by subtraction is a fabulous strategy for so many earliest-stage startups.
* Pretend you have but a fraction of the budget. How will you plan your MVP?
* Pretend you don't have funds to hire anyone. How will you plan development?
* Pretend you can't build anything (I know, vibe coding :), but pretend). How will you validate your idea?
If all goes fine, you still have funds for the next steps.
And the fear of others taking over your idea? That's largely overexaggerated.
Brilliant comments 👏 thanks for sharing your wisdom 🌟 most of my writing is for any founders - the lost, the fastest growing & everyone in between & so I'm with you on the core massage in the comment ✅
Thanks for the compliment - I would be honored to have you as a subscriber - paid or unpaid and don’t hesitate if there is something of interest to follow up on or where I can help. Keith, the Startup Whisperer @ https://keithnewman.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
You’ve captured that all-too-familiar startup moment: whirlwind speed gives way to chaos, and suddenly every tiny decision seems to stall the engine. The switch from “doing everything myself” to “designing systems that do it for me” reads not just as smart advice but as startup survival 101. The bit about proactive structure making space for clarity and pace? Brilliantly or rather, practically - powder‑keg stuff. Bottleneck relief, feature triage and playbooks sound like saviours, not preachy must‑dos.
So, tell me-which early signal in your journey made you realise that building systems must come before building features?
I think when I joined tech in the 90s to capture that 🌊 my Co-Founders were operating at scale on the tech side & I was building scale on the GTM side. It was a match made in heaven. They were "what does it look like if we were processing 100x the volume" & I was like "ok, we're killing it with 5 sales people but this won't work with 100 sales people. We need to design for scale" - you look down the table and minds are meeting and faces are smiling - there is a mentality alignment happening right there 🧡 Also - I'm not that interested in product as weird as that might seem 🤣
Great post !!
Thanks. Glad you like it. Its part of a weekly series.
The insight that founders often “retain control over too many decisions” resonates deeply. I’ve seen brilliant CEOs become their own worst scaling enemy this way. Your distinction between mechanical vs. moral failure is refreshing; it removes the shame and focuses on the fix. The PostHog example of engineers being product-minded during sprint planning seems like it could dramatically reduce those costly handoffs 🙌🏻
Brilliant comments and glad you like the article. It's all part of a weekly series. Feel free to check them out ✨
As someone with too many ideas constantly competing for attention, this framework articulates a tension I've felt but couldn't name: the shift from being an idea generator to an architecture designer.
What often gets overlooked is the psychological barrier here. Founders celebrate shipping features because it's visible progress. Shipping systems feels abstract, like building invisible scaffolding instead of a product. Yet that scaffolding is what prevents the entire structure from collapsing under its own weight.
That curation mindset, rather than just the operational checklist, is what separates fragile growth from sustainable scale.
Great wisdom 🌟 thanks for sharing - imagine all that shipped product no one ever uses 👀
The push for rapid scaling, especially with VC funds, can easily break a startup, whether it’s on the tech side, or on the staffing side. If either goes wrong, or you’re out of runway… the end is the same.
This is very true and some early growth deteriorates as the risk taking early adopters run out.
I know that the dominant message is to grow fast, outpace the competition, and, especially at the earliest stages, achieve exponential traction.
The AI race is a prime example. The marathon-long sprint fueled by seemingly infinite funding rounds, as everyone knows that, at the end of the day, there will only be a few products left standing.
As newsworthy as it is, that's not the reality for the overwhelming chunk of all startups. They read the same news, and may follow the same dreams, and yet they play a very different game.
The game, where sticking to a small team and modest vision gives better odds of succeeding. And in a more likely case of a failure, it's less costly (=more salvageable).
Addition by subtraction is a fabulous strategy for so many earliest-stage startups.
* Pretend you have but a fraction of the budget. How will you plan your MVP?
* Pretend you don't have funds to hire anyone. How will you plan development?
* Pretend you can't build anything (I know, vibe coding :), but pretend). How will you validate your idea?
If all goes fine, you still have funds for the next steps.
And the fear of others taking over your idea? That's largely overexaggerated.
Brilliant comments 👏 thanks for sharing your wisdom 🌟 most of my writing is for any founders - the lost, the fastest growing & everyone in between & so I'm with you on the core massage in the comment ✅
Thanks for the compliment - I would be honored to have you as a subscriber - paid or unpaid and don’t hesitate if there is something of interest to follow up on or where I can help. Keith, the Startup Whisperer @ https://keithnewman.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
Thanks for sharing
My pleasure - love your content