@garrytan: Everyone thinks "do things that don't scale" is about building relationships with early users. Yes AND it's about gener…
Summary
Garry Tan reframes Paul Graham's 'do things that don't scale' as a strategy to maximize mistakes for faster learning, cautioning that early automation freezes ignorance into code.
View Cached Full Text
Cached at: 05/23/26, 08:12 PM
Everyone thinks “do things that don’t scale” is about building relationships with early users.
Yes AND it’s about generating mistakes at maximum density.
When you’re doing everything manually (onboarding, support, delivery) you hit errors every hour. Each error teaches you something the dashboard never will.
The manual work IS the learning. Automate too early and you freeze your ignorance in code (and now markdown).
Similar Articles
@garrytan: https://x.com/garrytan/status/2061454423034110372
Garry Tan argues that developers are over-engineering with excessive code when using AI agents; instead, they should trust the model and build minimal, instruction-based software, exemplified by his open-source project GStack.
@garrytan: Run your own game It's going to work out
Garry Tan reflects on the fear of missing out in the tech industry, noting how various groups perceive missed opportunities amid the AI renaissance.
@garrytan: I know this is an unpopular view but I prefer to do a lot of work in planning and get it reviewed by my virtual CEO, De…
Garry Tan shares his preference for using AI personas (virtual CEO, DevEx manager, designer, Eng manager) in GStack to review plans before execution, claiming it reduces rework.
@garrytan: GSkills anyone?
A hot take suggesting that 99% of software can be built with the same finite set of elements, and repeatedly building from scratch is 'peak AI psychosis'.
@garrytan: The reason why I release my X articles about AI agents (fat skill fat code thin harness) and GStack and GBrain is that …
Garry Tan explains the motivation behind releasing his X articles on AI agents and concepts like GStack and GBrain, emphasizing the idea of 'process power' as a personal moat.