Start Small, Stay Small-readwise
Metadata
- Author: Rob Walling
- Full Title: Start Small, Stay Small
- Category: #books
5 key takeaways
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Target a $50/hr “true hourly rate.” Treat that figure as both a benchmark during product development and a post-launch goal to hit within six months, so you’re building a business that values your time properly.
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Outsource to multiply leverage. Handing off non-core tasks is the fastest way to raise your effective hourly earnings, freeing you to focus on high-value work instead of low-value busywork.
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Synthesize, don’t just consume. Skimming loads of content feels productive, but real advantage comes from distilling what you learn into actionable insights for your product and market.
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Market first, marketing second, aesthetics third, functionality fourth. For bootstrappers, winning starts with choosing the right paying market, then communicating value; polish and extra features come later.
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Go narrow to win early. A tight niche forces crisp product focus and makes it easier to find paying customers—critical for bootstrapped startups where a too-broad market can stretch resources thin.
Highlights
- $50/hour when you begin building your product, once you launch you should aim to hit that number within 6 months. (Location 474)
- Outsourcing aspects of your business is the single most powerful approach I’ve seen to increasing your true hourly rate as an entrepreneur. (Location 480)
- Consuming and synthesizing are very different things; it’s easy to consume in mass quantity. It’s much more difficult to synthesize information. (Location 510)
- Market comes first, marketing second, aesthetic third, and functionality a distant fourth (Location 640)
- But the way the vast majority (dare I say 99.5%) of all businesses in this world that succeed in the long-term – be they large or small, high-growth startup or lifestyle business – is to find a market that is willing to pay them money for something. (Location 689)
- Reason #1: A Niche Requires You to Narrow Your Product Focus (Location 716)
- Common sense tells you that the larger your market is, the better off you are. For bootstrapped startups, the opposite is true. (Location 738)