Plan Chess Moves Ahead for Sustainable Scaling

When scaling products from initial traction to massive scale, successful leaders build systems that enable sustainable acceleration rather than just moving fast and breaking things.

The "Go Slow to Go Fast" Principle for Hyperscaling Products

• Once you find product-market fit, you enter a critical phase where you must plan chess moves in advance
• The goal shifts from finding fit to enabling hyperscale growth
• During rapid scaling, you'll "feel the g-forces" - and need systems that can withstand them

Building for Durability During Hyperscale

• Products that stand the test of time are built with careful consideration of architecture and information flow
  • Facebook's News Feed has remained largely unchanged for 12+ years because the team thought carefully about the entire sharing loop
  • At Uber, rearchitecting core components like pickup/dropoff systems enabled global scaling
  • For Messenger, infrastructure investments around push notifications supported growth to 4.7 billion messages daily in 2.5 years

The Portfolio Approach to Scaling

• The transition isn't a binary switch but a ramp rate
• Allocate resources strategically across your portfolio:
  • Google used a 70/30 approach for mature products
  • Startups might use a 50/50 split between optimization and innovation
  • Adjust based on your specific stage and product needs

Measurement as a Foundation for Scaling

• "You wouldn't fly a plane without instruments, so why run your product without understanding how it's performing?"
• Building a growth team early forces rigor in measurement
  • Uncovers what you haven't been logging
  • Reveals how non-rigorous you've been about analyzing your product
  • Creates a culture of experimentation and data-driven decisions
  • Drives the right questions and behaviors

Balancing Growth with Craft

• Create healthy tension between growth metrics and product quality
• Structure your team with complementary forces:
  • Some focused on growing the product
  • Others maintaining design quality and craft
  • This tension stretches the team to achieve both objectives

When to Invest in Systems

• Not a binary decision but a gradual shift in focus
• Look for signs that your current approach won't scale
• Consider your portfolio approach - what percentage of resources should go to building systems vs. immediate growth?
• The more you feel the "g-forces" of rapid growth, the more you need to invest in systems

The Five PM Archetypes for Building a Balanced Team

• Consumer PM: Half designer, half product person - obsessed with details and craft
• Growth PM: Half data scientist, half product person - skeptical, data-driven, experimental
• Business/GM PM: Half MBA, half product person - focused on business models and value creation
• Platform PM: Deeply wired to build tools for others - creates systems that make teams faster
• Research/AI PM: Half researcher, half engineer, half product person - understands technology deeply

Most product people have a primary and secondary archetype - understanding this helps build complementary teams.