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Scalable by Design: Vision, Leanness, and the Founder Mindset
Last week at the Leslie eLab, we gathered for an intimate Female Founders Lunch and AMA with Jen Curtis (Wagner '24), Associate Director and Rebecca Silver, Director at the NYU Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute. What unfolded was not a checklist of startup tactics or a pitch-deck teardown. Instead, a grounding conversation about what really matters at the earliest stages of building something ambitious.
The conversation opened with a deceptively simple question: What does it actually mean to build a scalable company?
Scalability, as Jen and Rebecca framed it, is not just about getting bigger. It is about designing something that can grow without requiring a linear increase in people, cost, or operational complexity. For venture-backed, for-profit startups, that often translates to a credible path to around $50M in revenue within five years, and closer to $100M within ten years for most VCs to seriously engage. For nonprofits, scale looks different. But the bar is just as high. The expectation is wide, repeatable, and meaningful impact, not small, localized change.
Underlying both definitions is the same idea: build something giant.
At the earliest stages, though, scale is less about metrics and more about imagination. Investors are not expecting perfect execution. They are trying to understand the vision and the dream. Can this founder see a version of the world that looks meaningfully different? Can they articulate how their idea becomes big?
But vision alone is not enough.
A recurring theme throughout the AMA was leanness. Founders should constantly be asking how to make their work cheaper, simpler, and more efficient. How can this grow without adding headcount? What can be automated? What can be templated? What can be eliminated entirely? Scalability starts with habits. It is embedded in how you design systems from day one.
Jen and Rebecca also shared how the Leslie eLab thinks about evaluating founders. They look for a growth mindset. A belief that you have the internal capacity to work through hard problems. A confidence that, when things break, you can unbreak them. Not because you already know the answer, but because you trust your ability to find one.
That mindset shows up in behavior.
Strong founders do not wait for someone else to surface their problems. They go deal with them. They experiment. They try things. They ask better questions. They come back with learnings. Progress is not defined by symbolic milestones like incorporation. It is defined by movement. Talking to users. Brainstorming. Prototyping. Testing assumptions.
Another major lens is differentiation.
Differentiation also surfaced as critical. Not just differentiation in product, but differentiation rooted in deep customer understanding. The strongest ideas come from founders who recognize a real customer pain point and respond with a novel approach, often informed by their own unique skills or experiences.
Part of that novelty often comes from the founder themselves.
Jen and Rebecca encouraged founders to reflect on what they are unusually good at and how that gives them an edge. Your background, skills, experiences, and obsessions are not incidental. They are often the raw material for your best ideas.
Threaded through everything was a strong bias toward action.
The NYU Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute coaches are not necessarily looking for people who just say, “I have an idea.” They are looking for people who can say, “Here is what I tried.” Even if it did not work.
Progress is not defined by symbolic milestones like incorporation alone. It is defined by tangible movement. Talking to users. Brainstorming solutions. Testing ideas. Iterating. Learning.
Founders who believe they can work through ambiguity, solve their own problems, and creatively navigate obstacles. Instead of waiting for external help, strong founders proactively confront challenges and experiment with solutions.
The big takeaway? Scalable companies start with big thinking, but they are built through small, consistent actions. Vision creates the destination. Action creates the path.
The big takeaway from the lunch was simple, but demanding:
Scalable companies begin with expansive vision.
They are built through lean execution.
And they are sustained by founders who believe they can figure things out.
Not because it is easy.
Not because it is obvious.
But because they are willing to try anyway.
Learn more about our full suite of Female Founder programs offerings; open to all NYU students who are committed to advancing gender equity in entrepreneurship, regardless of gender. Don't miss our Female Founders Forum on February 13th and our next Female Founders Lunch on March 13th!
