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12 Comments

Why premature optimization could be what kills your startup

  1. 5

    This is so true!

    Premature optimization can lead you down a rabbit hole of tweaking and tuning that never ends. You can spend hours, days, or even weeks making your code or database "just a little bit faster" without ever making any progress on the actual product.

    And in the meantime, your competitors are busy shipping their products and acquiring users.

    1. 1

      You are right Alex.

    2. 1

      Second this, I've spent so much time on a faster product feature that nobody cares.

  2. 2

    Great post. From my experience, the goal isn't to scale from the get-go but once you're in a position to scale you should have made it easy to do without too much hassle. So, have scaling in mind but don't make that your main priority.

    1. 1

      Yes, I definitely agree with that. Scaling should be something you keep in mind from the beginning, but it shouldn't be your main priority. Once you're in a position to scale, you should make it easy to do so without too much hassle.

  3. 2

    Brilliant article. The phrase 'Don't run before you can walk' springs to mind. Focus on the basics and only once you've mastered them (and sometimes not even then) can you think about scaling.

  4. 1

    Grow and adapt with your userbase.

    You wouldn't purchase a lorry to move a book. Step-by-step slowly improve and innovate - don't sacrifice moving forward for the sake of perfection.

    1. 1

      Great advice. Thank you.

  5. 1

    Absolutely, every single project should avoid over-engineering and focus on time to delivery.

  6. 1

    Very nice, in other words, startup should not seek to be a perfectionist at the begining.

  7. 1

    Nice! Very well written and super true. I've seen this happen multiple times with different startups I've been a part of, it can literally kill a business.

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