Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
While every startup founder is obsessing over growth hacks and viral loops, I was in a client meeting explaining why we needed to do the complete opposite. "But this won't scale," they said, looking horrified at my proposal to manually onboard every single user.
That "unscalable" approach got them from 0 to 3,000 users in 12 weeks.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: most early-stage companies fail because they're trying to scale before they have anything worth scaling. They're building growth engines for products nobody wants, optimizing conversion funnels that convert nobody, and automating processes that deliver zero value.
The smartest founders I work with do the opposite. They deliberately choose tactics that can't scale. They do things manually. They have conversations instead of sending emails. They build relationships instead of funnels.
This playbook breaks down the exact non-scaleable tactics that actually work:
Why "doing things that don't scale" beats growth hacking in early stages
The 7 manual tactics I use to get the first 100 users for clients
How to systematically validate demand before building scale
When to transition from manual to automated (and the signals to watch for)
Real examples from SaaS client work and what actually moved the needle
If you're stuck at zero users or spinning your wheels with "scalable" marketing tactics that aren't working, this approach will feel backwards. That's exactly why it works.
Industry Reality
What every startup accelerator teaches about user acquisition
Walk into any startup accelerator or read any growth marketing blog, and you'll hear the same advice: build systems that scale from day one. Set up email funnels. Create viral loops. Optimize your conversion rates. Build a repeatable, measurable, scalable machine.
The logic sounds solid. Why waste time on things that don't scale when you could be building the foundation for explosive growth? Why manually onboard 10 users when you could build an automated system that onboards 10,000?
Here's what they typically recommend:
Growth hacking tactics - Find the one weird trick that will 10x your signups
Marketing automation - Build complex email sequences and nurture funnels
Viral mechanics - Engineer referral programs and sharing features
Content at scale - Pump out blog posts and social media content
Paid acquisition - Throw money at ads and optimize for CAC/LTV
This advice exists because it's what worked for companies that already had product-market fit. Facebook didn't grow to a billion users through manual outreach. But that's not where Facebook started.
The problem? You're not Facebook. You're not even early Facebook. You're pre-Facebook - you're still figuring out if anyone wants what you're building.
Every scalable system requires two things you don't have yet: validated demand and proven value delivery. Without those, you're building a beautiful machine that produces nothing.
That's why I tell clients to do the exact opposite of what the growth gurus preach. Start with tactics that absolutely cannot scale. Do things manually. Have real conversations. Build one perfect experience before you build a thousand mediocre ones.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The wake-up call came from a B2B SaaS client who'd been following every growth hack playbook in existence. They had beautiful landing pages, automated email sequences, content calendars, and a referral program. They'd spent six months building "scalable" systems.
Their user count? Twelve people. Most of whom never came back after signing up.
When I dug into their approach, the problem was obvious. They were trying to scale a user experience they'd never actually delivered to anyone. Their onboarding was automated, but nobody understood the product. Their email sequences were optimized, but nobody cared about the content. Their referral program was beautifully designed, but nobody loved the product enough to refer it.
This is the classic trap I see with SaaS companies especially. They read about companies like Slack or Zoom and think, "We need viral growth!" But Slack didn't start viral. They started by manually onboarding teams and obsessing over making those teams successful.
The client's main issue was simple: they had built a scalable system for delivering an experience they'd never actually validated. They knew their software worked, but they had no idea if their users got value from it.
That's when I introduced them to what I call "deliberately unscalable" tactics. Instead of trying to automate their way to growth, we went completely manual. Instead of optimizing conversion rates, we optimized for learning rates.
The shift felt uncomfortable for them. "But this won't scale," they kept saying. That was exactly the point. We weren't trying to scale yet. We were trying to figure out what was worth scaling.
Within two weeks of implementing manual tactics, they learned more about their users than they had in the previous six months of "scalable" experiments. And those learnings became the foundation for real growth.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's the exact playbook I used to get that client from 12 to 3,000+ engaged users in 12 weeks, using tactics that definitely don't scale but definitely work:
Step 1: Manual User Interviews (Not Surveys)
Instead of sending automated surveys, I had the founders personally call every single person who signed up. Not to sell them anything, but to understand their world. The script was simple: "Hi, I'm the founder. I noticed you signed up but haven't been active. Can you help me understand what you were hoping our product would do?"
This revealed something shocking: 80% of their signups thought the product did something completely different than what it actually did. Their messaging was attracting the wrong people entirely.
Step 2: One-on-One Onboarding Sessions
We ditched the automated onboarding flow and offered every new user a personal 15-minute walkthrough. Yes, it took hours every week. But we learned exactly where people got confused, what features they actually needed, and how they wanted to use the product.
These sessions became our product roadmap. Instead of guessing what features to build, we knew exactly what real users were trying to accomplish.
Step 3: Manual Content Distribution
Instead of posting content and hoping for organic reach, we manually shared every piece of content in relevant communities where our users hung out. Not spammy promotion - genuine participation in conversations where our content actually helped people.
I personally joined 15 Slack communities, 8 Facebook groups, and 5 industry forums. Every time we published something, I'd find relevant discussions and contribute meaningfully, with our content as supporting material.
Step 4: Personal Follow-Up Sequences
Instead of automated email drip campaigns, the founders sent personal messages to users based on their actual behavior. If someone used feature A but not feature B, they got a personal note explaining how feature B could help them specifically.
These weren't templates. Each message was written individually, based on what that specific user was trying to accomplish.
Step 5: Direct Feedback Implementation
When users suggested features or complained about problems, we didn't add them to a roadmap - we fixed them immediately. Sometimes within hours. We'd then personally reach out to the user who suggested the fix to show them the improvement.
This created incredible loyalty and word-of-mouth, because users felt heard and valued in a way they'd never experienced with other software.
Step 6: Manual Referral Outreach
Instead of building a referral program, we simply asked happy users: "Who else do you know who has this same problem?" Then we asked for a personal introduction, not a referral link.
These warm introductions converted at 10x the rate of any automated referral system we tested later.
The entire approach was built on one principle: do everything manually until you understand exactly what needs to be automated. Don't scale the system - scale the insights.
Manual Research
Each user interview revealed critical gaps in messaging and product positioning
Personal Touch
One-on-one onboarding sessions became our most valuable product development tool
Community Engagement
Active participation in user communities generated 10x better results than broadcast marketing
Immediate Response
Real-time feedback implementation created unprecedented user loyalty and word-of-mouth
The results weren't just about user numbers - they completely transformed how the product was built and positioned:
User Growth: From 12 inactive users to 3,000+ engaged users in 12 weeks. More importantly, 78% of new users completed their first meaningful action within 7 days (up from 12% before).
Product-Market Fit Discovery: The user interviews revealed that our initial target market was completely wrong. We pivoted the messaging and positioning, which 5x'd our conversion rate almost immediately.
Feature Development Speed: Instead of spending months building features users didn't want, we built exactly what they needed in weeks. User satisfaction scores jumped from 2.1/5 to 4.3/5.
Word-of-Mouth Growth: Manual referral outreach generated 60% of new users by month 3. These users had 90% higher retention than users from any other channel.
But here's what really mattered: by month 4, we finally had something worth scaling. We knew exactly who our users were, what they needed, and how to deliver value. That's when we started building the automated systems - but now they were based on proven, validated experiences rather than assumptions.
The "unscalable" tactics didn't just get us users. They taught us how to build a business users actually wanted.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this approach with dozens of clients, here are the most important lessons I've learned about when and how to use non-scaleable tactics:
1. Start Manual Before You Automate Anything
Every automated system should be based on a manual process that already works. If you can't do it manually and get good results, automation won't save you.
2. Track Learning Velocity, Not Just Growth Metrics
In the early stages, the most important metric is how quickly you're learning about your users. User count matters less than user understanding.
3. Personal Touch Beats Personalization
A personally written message based on real knowledge always outperforms an "personalized" template. Humans can tell the difference.
4. Community Engagement Requires Genuine Value
You can't fake your way into communities. You have to genuinely participate and provide value before you can share your own content.
5. Scale When You Hit Capacity, Not Before
The signal to start automating isn't when you want to grow faster - it's when manual processes are preventing you from serving users well.
6. Document Everything For Future Automation
While doing things manually, meticulously document what works and what doesn't. This becomes your blueprint for automation later.
7. Non-Scaleable Doesn't Mean Inefficient
Manual doesn't mean unorganized. Create systems and processes for your manual work so you can do it consistently and effectively.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing non-scaleable tactics:
Personally onboard every user in your first 100
Call users who churn to understand why
Join communities where your users naturally hang out
Build features based on direct user requests, not roadmap assumptions
Send personal check-in messages instead of automated emails
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores using manual tactics:
Personally package and include handwritten notes with first orders
Follow up with customers to ensure satisfaction and gather feedback
Engage authentically in relevant social media groups and forums
Create custom product recommendations based on individual customer needs
Offer personal styling or consultation calls for higher-value customers