Summary5 min read

Podcast Episode Summary

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Episode 590: (Solo) Why You Need to Do Things That Don’t Scale
Release Date: September 23, 2025
Host: Nathan Chan

Episode Overview

In this solo episode, Nathan Chan dives into the crucial early-stage entrepreneurial lesson: the importance of “doing things that don’t scale.” Drawing on his own decade-long journey building Foundr, as well as stories from successful founders, Nathan explains why manual, high-touch actions are the secret to understanding your customers, gaining traction, and laying the foundation for sustainable growth. The episode is filled with actionable examples and candid advice, making it indispensable for new founders and anyone looking to build authentic brand relationships from the ground up.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin: "Doing Things That Don't Scale" ([00:49]–[01:24])

The concept was first popularized by Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator.
Nathan emphasizes he makes “no claim to this one”—the strategy is credited to Graham but has been transformative at Foundr.

2. Why Early-Stage Founders Should Avoid Automation ([01:24]–[02:30])

“It is so incredibly important not to try and systematize everything, not to try and automate everything, and not to try and think too much further ahead on your journey.” — Nathan Chan ([01:24])
The real advantage of being small: you can compete with bigger brands by offering a level of personal attention they can't.

3. Nathan’s Foundr Example: Personal Replies to Every Email ([02:31]–[03:40])

Early in Foundr, Nathan personally replied to every new subscriber’s email.
“I read every single email and it was crazy... I did that for the first 12 to 18 months at Founder and it was amazing to hear the stories of people in our community, how they were finding us, why they started to sign up to our email list and how we could help them where they were struggling.” — Nathan Chan ([02:56])
This one-on-one engagement revealed what people loved, disliked, and truly needed from Foundr.

4. Other Real-World Examples of Doing Things That Don’t Scale ([03:41]–[05:14])

a) Rena and Flow: Building from Nothing ([03:41])

Foundr students who made $25,000 in their brand’s first two weeks by DMing hairdressers and new salon clients on Instagram, building relationships without ads or automation.
“They just sent a friendly message... no automation, no paid ads, just old fashioned Instagram DMs and relationship building. That catalyst was how they grew their brand.” — Nathan Chan ([04:23])

b) Healthish (Nathan’s Other Business): Manual DMs and Follows ([04:43])

The team manually found and followed customers from competitor brands, messaged new followers with special coupon codes, and built buzz and sales directly from this personal outreach.
“We DM’d people that followed us or liked images... and we got sales every sing[le time]. It is so powerful.” — Nathan Chan ([05:00])

5. Tactics You Can Apply Now ([05:15]–[06:40])

Nathan provides a rapid-fire checklist for founders:

Write handwritten thank-you cards to every customer.
DM new followers privately on social media platforms.
Send voice notes or personalized video replies.
Create custom product bundles for influencers or thought leaders in your niche.
Go out of your way to demonstrate care and attention—authenticity builds emotional connection.

“Just the more personal you can be, the better. It goes a long way.” — Nathan Chan ([05:37])

6. The Mindset: Competing with Giants ([06:41]–[07:23])

Large companies simply can’t offer highly personal touches at scale.
Small brands can win by making each customer feel individually valued—a point of differentiation.
“Don’t be intimidated by big players. You can do things that they can’t or they’re not even thinking about.” — Nathan Chan ([07:05])

7. The Call to Action ([07:24]–[end])

For founders in the earliest stages: Routinely ask, “What can I do that doesn’t scale?”
These early actions will reveal what your ideal customers respond to, setting the stage for what to scale later.
Nathan invites listeners to DM him or email with feedback and stories.
Brief plug for Foundr Plus, Foundr’s all-access membership for e-commerce brand builders (“$1 trial for 14 days”).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“It’s really about curiosity, it’s really about understanding things and doing things that don’t scale. Because a lot of those things you won’t want to scale, a lot of these things won’t work.” — Nathan Chan ([01:35])
“Was it time consuming to read every single email?... But I learned so much. I was able to connect with our early-stage community... I worked out very, very quickly where we needed to focus.” — Nathan Chan ([03:17])
“So many people, they’re like, ‘I launched my product, I’m not getting as many sales.’ Like, well, how many people have you spoken to?” — Nathan Chan ([04:58])
“You can do things that [big brands] can’t or they’re not even thinking about. And this is how you grow. This is how people talk about your brand and this is how you find out what works.” — Nathan Chan ([07:05])

Timestamps for Key Segments

[00:49] – Introduction to “doing things that don’t scale”
[01:24] – Why not to automate everything as a founder
[02:31] – Foundr’s early email strategy and lessons learned
[03:41] – Success story: Rena and Flow’s manual outreach
[04:43] – Manual work at Healthish for customer engagement
[05:15] – Actionable tactics for founders
[06:41] – How small brands can beat big brands with personalization
[07:24] – Final advice and call to action

Final Thoughts

Nathan Chan’s episode is a motivating, nuts-and-bolts guide for new founders on why—and how—to execute personal, “unscalable” actions to build deeper customer relationships and better products. By sharing honest examples from his own journey and those of Foundr alumni, Nathan drives home the principle that scrappiness and empathy are an early-stage founder’s secret weapon.

Recommended for: Anyone launching or growing a business who wants to create real connections and get direct, invaluable feedback from their audience.

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Transcript6 lines

[00:02]
Nathan Chan
Hey, founder fam. I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with Omnisend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e commerce founders. We've been recommending Omnisend to founder students.
[00:15]
For a while now because it just works.
[00:17]
Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling to seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results. Did you know on average OMNISEND customers make $68 for every one, one dollar they spend, which is an insanely good return on investment. And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code. Founder50. Just head to omnisend.com founder without the e to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show.
[00:49]
Hey guys, welcome back to another solo episode where I share all the lessons that I've learned building founder the past decade decade to really help you on your journey. These are short, bite sized episodes. So today I want to talk to you about one thing that I first heard about from a guy called Paul Graham. So I make no claim to this one and it's doing things that don't scale.
[01:10]
Podcast Announcer
Hear the stories, learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the Founder podcast with Nathan Chan.
[01:24]
Nathan Chan
So when you're an early stage founder, it is so incredibly important not to try and systematize everything, not to try and automate everything, and not to try and think too much further ahead on your journey. You want to do things that don't scale because this is so incredibly important to get on the ground and get to know your customer, get to find out what's working. Because that's the magic when you're starting a business. It's really about curiosity, it's really about understanding things and doing things that don't scale. Because a lot of those things you won't want to scale, a lot of these things won't work. 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. And I'm gonna give you some examples on my journey and things that I've seen from super successful founders, how they use this approach to really find the gold to effectively work out what to scale. So let me tell you a quick story and give you an example of this. So when I first started Founder, when we started, you know, setting up an email list and a newsletter and people could sign up and I was, you know, giving away the Richard Branson edition for free and all sorts of things, one thing that I did was in our auto email responder using mailchimp, the first email I sent to people on automation was I welcomed you and thank you for signing up to the Founder platform. I talked about our mission and and at the bottom of the email, my call to action was hit reply. Please respond to me on how we can help you at Founder with your business. I read every single email and it was crazy. I did that for the first 12 to 18 months at founder and it was amazing to hear the stories of people in our community, how they were finding us, why they started to sign up to our email list and how we could help them where they were struggling. And I was building relationships with people that I'd never met and they somehow found founder and I worked out how to make the product better. And that's a classic example of doing things that don't scale, right? Was it time consuming to read every single email? And over time, eventually I had to turn it off because I was getting, you know, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 plus replies every single day. So I couldn't keep up. But I learned so much. I was able to connect with our early stage community. There's people where they poured their heart and soul and told me where they're at with their business and, you know, how they were growing it or where they needed help. And I worked out very, very quickly where we needed to focus. I worked out what people's favorite interviews were, I worked out what they liked about the magazine, what they didn't like, where we could improve things. So, so, so, so, so powerful. So another great example of this is our students, Rena and Flow. So we actually interviewed them for episode five, check that out, where they made $25,000 in their first two weeks. What was incredible was when they launched their product, they went on Instagram and looked for people that just recently got their hair done and they reached out to hairdressers, right, and told them about their incredible product. It's such a really smart strategy, right? So they've found people that would be incredible ambassadors for their product and they just sent a friendly message, just introducing who they are, what they do and how amazing their product is. It's just no automation, no paid ads, just old fashioned Instagram DMS and relationship building. And that catalyst was how they grew their brand, right? And they were sending hundreds of messages every single week and it is so powerful. And they got sales, right? So many people there's like, I launched my product, I'm not getting as many sales. Like, well, how many people have you spoken to, right? How many people have followed your brand that you haven't wrote to? How many people liked one of your images you haven't wrote to? These are the things you need to do when you're in the early stages of your brand. It's exactly what we did with Healthish. My time marked water bottle business. When we launched that company, we did things that didn't scale. We looked at all the water bottle competitors, we followed people that followed those competitors, we followed people that purchased from those competitors and we DM people that followed us or liked images of our products and we said, hey, here's a special coupon code and we got sales every sing. It is so powerful. So you're probably thinking, if you're in the early stages of your brand, what can you do? What are the things you can do? Well, you can write handwritten cards. So every single person that purchases your product, write them a handwritten card. DM New followers privately that follow your brand on Instagram, TikTok or any social media, follow up with voice notes or video responses. Just more personal you can be, the better it goes a long way. You could create custom packages or bundles for certain celebrities or people in your niche or market that are thought leaders and really go out of your way to show that effort that you care. These are some things that you can do that don't scale. That builds an emotional connection because that's what business is all about. It's about building relationships at scale. But in the early days, you don't want to do it at scale. You want to go one to one is so powerful. Building that emotional connection and that's what it takes to get people to talk about your brand. So if you're early in your entrepreneurial career, you've just launched your brand, you're just about to launch a brand. Please ask the question, what can I do that doesn't scale? And don't be intimidated by big players. You can do things that they can't or they're not even thinking about. And this is how you grow. This how people talk about your brand and this is how you find out what works. All right, I hope you guys enjoyed this as always. Shoot me a DM at Nathan Chan or shoot me an email nathan.com I would love to hear what your thoughts are on this episode. Also guys, if you want more help building your brand, we have an incredible platform called Founder Plus. You can sign up for a $1 trial for 14 days. It is the All Access membership to help you start and grow your e commerce brand with all the courses, community training, blueprints, tools, templates that you need. So make sure you sign up. We'd love to support you on your journey. All right. I look forward to seeing you on another episode.