Doing Things That Don’t Scale; PR; How to get Started

Notes

Stanley Tang, DoorDash
DoorDash on demand food delivery service
talked to 150-200 business owners regarding delivery service
4m00s test hypothesis with simple site
ok to hack things together at the beginning
used existing tools instead of building infrastructure/ backend (square, find-my-friends, google docs)
10m20s expanded to more cities and now need to scale
10m45s 1. test your hypothesis, 2. launch fast, 3. do things that don’t scale
11m24s Q&A how did first customer hear about you: word of mouth
why wasn’t this done before: mobile and existing tech made infrastructure possible
future: expand with restaurant delivery then other verticals

Walker Williams, Teespring
16m10s teespring allows launching new apparel brands
huge advantage of startup over established business is being able to do things that don’t scale
17m10s Finding your first users, turning those users into champions, finding product/ market fit
getting first users: no silver bullet, first ones are the hardest to acquire
don’t focus on ROI, focus on growth
don’t give product away for free
turning users into champions by delighting customers, talk to users, read tweets and user communities
talking to customers: 1. run customer service, 2. reach out to current & churned customers, 3. social media/ communities
24m45s problems inevitable, so whatever it takes to make them right
26m00s find product market fit: first product launched probably won’t be the final fit
optimize code for speed over scalability
only worry about the next order of magnitude (100, 1000, 10000….)
do things that don’t scale as long as possible
30m20s Q&A
t-shirt print is competitive, why launch: had personal pain point while trying to get shirts printed
biggest customer base: entrepreneurs trying to build brands, influencers

Justin Kan, TwitchTV, Partner Y Combinator
32m55s how to get press, how does it work
who do you want to reach? investors, customers, industry, have targeted audience and goals
36m17s what is a story?: product launches, fundraising, milestones, stunts, hiring, contributed articles
39m40s mechanics of a story: think of a story, get introduced, set a date, reach out, pitch, followup, launch news
meet writer face-to-face if possible
structure story as bullet points and memorize, then go through during interview
send follow-up email
44m50s PR Firms: firms can only help with contacts, can’t generate stories, are expensive. do it yourself first
Getting press is work, not a scalable user acquisition strategy, not recommended for startups
Further Reading
- The Burned Out Blogger’s Guide to PR, Jason Kincaid
- Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator, Ryan Holiday