After a year of cutbacks and cautious spending, founders are now shifting away from growth at all costs and focusing on scaling smartly. This strategy applies to both internal hiring and user acquisition. To grow smartly, you must know how to effectively leverage AI, automation, and other cutting-edge tools to empower your team and achieve more with less.
We’ve distilled the wisdom shared by three founders at our recent event discussing this topic and share with you actionable insights you can apply to your team and company next year and beyond.
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Max Kolysh from Dover: Building a High-Impact Team
If you’re building a team from scratch today, Max Kolysh, CEO of Dover, emphasizes the importance of “removing as much critical, but not strategic work as possible” from your recruiting process. For example, interview scheduling falls under critical but not strategic work. Focus your energy on interviews, pitching, and assessing job fit, while automating or delegating the rest.
Max also champions the power of a small team by maximizing “talent density.” This means hiring strong individuals who thrive on ownership and responsibility. You don’t have to have a large team to do great things. By leveraging AI and automation tools that simplify startup tasks with a team that acts like owners, you can do high-impact work no matter your company size.
Siadhal Magos from Metaview: Embracing AI for Growth
Siadhal Magos, co-founder of Metaview, also believes the main benefit of AI is that it helps eliminate low-leverage work. He notes that AI has “expanded the bucket of what is automatable,” freeing up mental space for human creativity and better decision-making.
For example, with Metaview specifically, you can automate writing up scorecards and notes after interviews and then send them directly to the hiring manager. This allows interviewers to focus on getting to know their candidates and vetting for cultural fit.
Another benefit of integrating AI into your everyday operations? Focusing on what really matters: acquiring new users. Siadhal highlights how their product’s focus on solving end-user problems drives organic growth: “We don’t acquire a user until after they’ve used our product. So, our product itself acts as a marketing tool.”
Grant Lee from Gamma: Onboard to Show Value Quickly
Grant Lee, founder of Gamma, echoed Metaview’s sentiment about the importance of getting users to their product’s value quickly. He believes “the goal of every software company is really to shorten the time to value.” Gamma achieves this by providing pre-assembled building blocks for presentations, along with AI-powered prompts, allowing users to experiment immediately. “If you can make it incredibly easy for them to see the value, then they’re obviously more likely to stick around,” Lee explains. “And I think perhaps even better, they’ll go on and tell all their friends about how amazing that experience is.” By prioritizing the onboarding process, Gamma ensures users see the value proposition immediately, driving adoption and positive word-of-mouth.
Grant’s unconventional approach to team building is also worth noting. Instead of following the trend of remote work, he opted for an in-person team with a physical office, responding directly to the team’s feedback. This decision highlights the importance of aligning with your team’s energy and aspirations to ensure success.
Thoughtfully Integrate AI into Your Products
Start-up founders like Grant and Max emphasize the value of a deliberate and phased approach when integrating AI into their products.
Grant encourages internal testing, or “dogfooding,” before exposing AI tools or features to the broader community. This allows for early feedback and refinement before a wider launch. He describes their internal practice of creating themed presentations to test and improve their AI tools, stating, “You can quickly build some intuition around what’s actually useful and what’s not.”
Max further suggests the importance of human oversight during the rollout of new AI features, particularly for tasks requiring real-time decision-making. He advises, “Do a human review before presenting results to customers, until you’re happy with the output.” This ensures accuracy and builds trust before fully trusting the AI to operate independently.
By following these recommendations, start-ups can leverage the power of AI while minimizing potential risks and ensuring a successful integration for both users and the company.
Balancing Growth with Gratitude
Even with the constant hustle, these founders prioritize balance. Max encourages creating avenues for appreciation, like Slack channels for team shoutouts and customer feedback (we do this at Arc internally, too, in our #wins channel!). This fosters a culture of gratitude within the team and a space to show appreciation.
Siadhal finds balance by “making the most of the opportunity” to build a company while cherishing his family life. Grant energizes himself through interactions with other founders and celebrating small wins with his team.
Final Thoughts
The Scaling Smartly event, hosted by Weiting Liu, founder of Arc, offered valuable insights into navigating the complexities of startup growth. Through the diverse perspectives of experienced founders, several key takeaways emerged:
Key Takeaways:
- No one-size-fits-all path: Siadhal encourages us to not blindly follow others’ advice, highlighting the need for independent judgment.
- Building a strong team: Focus on strategic work of team building. Use AI and other tools to help streamline critical but non-strategic work of recruiting.
- Integrate AI intentionally: Dogfood internally and gather early feedback before a wider launch. Use human oversight for critical tasks.
- Move with speed and agility: Grant concludes with a call to action: “Be ready for opportunities and move quickly when they arise.” This underscores the importance of agility and adaptability in the fast-paced startup world.
The insights shared by these successful founders offer a valuable roadmap for scaling your tech startup effectively. By adopting these principles and adapting them to your specific context, you can navigate the challenges of growth and propel your company toward long-term success.
Learn more about the founders and companies here:
Check out the full event recording hosted on LinkedIn.
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