I generally agree with the idea and appreciate the clarity of this post.
One related thought which I think is potentially useful both for thinking of which projects to fund or to start:
Projects usually need to be scalable at advanced stages, but not at the start. It’s ok (and even recommended* in many cases) to start doing things in non-scalable ways that aren’t cost-effective. A lot of times, the value in information \ experience \ growth is high enough that it’s worth starting out doing things that you won’t be able to sustain as you grow.
Obviously, there should be a plan (or at least ideas on how) to become more scalable later. I’d be looking for projects that have reasonable path(s) to being very scalable down the road.
* This link is advice for for-profit startups. It’s only partially relevant for our context but the point I’m making is made there in more detail.
I generally agree with the idea and appreciate the clarity of this post.
One related thought which I think is potentially useful both for thinking of which projects to fund or to start:
Projects usually need to be scalable at advanced stages, but not at the start. It’s ok (and even recommended* in many cases) to start doing things in non-scalable ways that aren’t cost-effective.
A lot of times, the value in information \ experience \ growth is high enough that it’s worth starting out doing things that you won’t be able to sustain as you grow.
Obviously, there should be a plan (or at least ideas on how) to become more scalable later. I’d be looking for projects that have reasonable path(s) to being very scalable down the road.
* This link is advice for for-profit startups. It’s only partially relevant for our context but the point I’m making is made there in more detail.
This is an important clarification—thanks!