Dated archive · Max Ek · . Original content, reflecting the time it was written.
Every founder I meet wants to scale. They want more users, more revenue, more impact. But when I look at their products, I see the opposite of what enables scale: complexity.
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo da Vinci
The complexity trap
Here's what happens: you build a feature. Users ask for customization. You add options. Power users want more control. You add settings. Edge cases appear. You add conditionals.
Before you know it, your product has 47 settings, three different ways to do the same thing, and a UI that requires a manual.
This is not scale. This is technical debt disguised as customer service.
What simplicity actually means
Simplicity isn't about having fewer features. It's about having fewer decisions.
When a user opens your product, they should know exactly what to do. Not because you wrote a tutorial, but because there's only one obvious path.
- Stripe doesn't ask you how you want to process payments. They just do it.
- Linear doesn't ask you how to configure your issue tracker. They ship opinionated defaults.
- Apple doesn't put every setting on the home screen. They hide what 95% of users never need.
How to practice simplicity
- Default to no. Every feature request is a no until it's obviously a yes.
- Kill your darlings. If a feature isn't used by >20% of users, cut it.
- One way to do things. If there are two ways, remove one.
- Write the README first. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it yet.
The paradox
The irony is that simple products are harder to build. It takes discipline to say no. It takes taste to know what to remove. It takes courage to ship something minimal.
But this is exactly what enables you to scale. Because simple products are:
- Easier to maintain
- Faster to iterate
- Cheaper to support
- More delightful to use
Complexity is a crutch. Simplicity is a competitive advantage.
What's the most complex part of your product? Could you remove it?