Embracing the Unconventional: The 3-Month Rule for startup Development
When it comes to launching a successful startup, one piece of wisdom often surfaces: “Do things that don’t scale,” a mantra popularized by investor Paul Graham. However, while this advice resonates, the practical application of this philosophy in technical development tends to be overlooked. After eight months of developing my AI podcast platform, I’ve established a straightforward framework to help me navigate the world of unscalable solutions: the 3-Month Rule. Here’s how it works: any hack that can’t scale is given a lifespan of three months. At the end of that period, it either demonstrates its worth and is developed into a robust solution, or it is discarded.
As engineers, we’re often conditioned to prioritize scalable architectures from day one. We dream of sophisticated design patterns, microservices, and distributed systems capable of managing millions of users. However, in the realm of startups, this approach frequently turns into a case of costly procrastination, as we tend to optimize for an audience that doesn’t exist yet and tackle issues that might never arise. The 3-Month Rule encourages me to write straightforward, albeit “imperfect,” code that can be launched quickly and provides genuine insights into user needs.
Current Hacks: A Pragmatic Approach to Infrastructure
1. All-in-One VM Setup
My entire stack—including the database, web server, background tasks, and caching—is hosted on a single $40/month virtual machine. While this setup lacks redundancy and relies on manual backups, the benefits are significant. In just two months, I’ve understood my actual resource needs better than I could have through any capacity planning documentation. My platform peaks at 4GB of RAM, revealing that the complex Kubernetes architecture I considered would have been managing idle containers. Each crash delivers valuable insights about real failure points—often surprising ones.
2. Hardcoded Configuration
Consider this: no configuration files, no environment variables, just constants embedded throughout my codebase. While this may seem primitive, it allows me to quickly locate and change configuration values. Redeployments only take a few minutes, contrasting sharply with the estimated weeks it might take to create a well-structured configuration service. I’ve made just a few necessary changes in the past three months, saving countless hours of engineering effort.
3. SQLite in Production
Indeed, I’m utilizing SQLite as the database for a multi-user web application, and it’s
