My frugal, product-driven startup principles
Stay focused on two KPIs: MRR and quality of support. That's it. You don't need anything else to grow 2/3x per year. No funnels, no analytics, nothing. Focus on what really matters.
Obsess over documentation, communication and product self-discoverability. Less support to manage, happier customers, organic word of mouth arises. Things must feel simple and natural AND people must know how good you are.
Only build new features when there's clear, overwhelming demand. When in doubt, always improve the existing. Small improvements compound over time and make you stand out from half-baked competitors.
Fight to keep team size to a minimum. A few trusted, autonomous, extraordinary people can do wonders and easily manage thousands of customers (trust me on this).
Fewer people = faster time-to-market, less meetings, less decision burden, less costs, more happiness and general feeling of empowerment.
Before hiring on a permanent basis, test potential employees as freelancers and make sure they are able to make the right calls by themselves. If things don't go as hoped, have the courage to end the partnership, the entire team (and your future self!) will thank you for that
Don't let the narrative of the classic VC funded startup with hyper-acceleration distract you from what feels right to you. Embrace YOUR superpowers. Everyone follows their own path, you're not inferior if you don't like working like someone else.
Be careful about keeping prices too low: they increase support, drive a bidding war, and distract you from the demands of customers willing to pay more for the same product. Less is more.
There is no such thing as easy money. Any great accomplishment requires patience, time, effort. Don't change your mind every 5 minutes just because you don't immediately get a result. It. Takes. Time.