Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Stay scrappy at the edge
The web model
Picture a web. New ideas and scrappiness sit at its edge. The center takes in what the edge has figured out once it has been processed, turns it into processes and software, and makes it more efficient. Each thing learned becomes a capability, and Zach Dell calls the whole pile of learned skills the Capability Cannon, which can be pointed at the next opportunity.
Building its own MES
The factory shows the loop. The manufacturing execution system Base started with had been built for retail clothing inventory tracking, a tool for making 50 of a thing before switching to something new, not 1,000 of a thing a day. Working around it didn't hold up, so the team built its own. The first version shipped in January, by April it was the system of record at every station, and by June the team was integrating live controls for the factory's 21 robots.
Whimsy and quality
Then came Whimsy, short for Where the heck is my stuff y'all, which tracks inventory from the moment it arrives at BF1 until it leaves for one of Base's six-plus warehouses. A custom Quality Management System took over supplier quality, production approvals, and non-conforming parts.
Why does retail software fit factories poorly?
Apparel inventory systems track items by style, size, color, and season, in small lots that change often. A battery factory needs a serial-number record for each cell and module, along with the settings and test results at every station. That traceability lets a manufacturer recall only the units built from a faulty batch of parts. Software built for clothing has no need for that depth of history.
Why do companies build their own internal tools?
Off-the-shelf software is built for the typical customer, and a company with unusual workflows can end up bending its process around the tool. Building in-house puts the company in control of how fast the software changes. Amazon Web Services grew out of infrastructure Amazon first built for its own retail site. It launched publicly in 2006 with the S3 storage service.
Why do startups lose scrappiness as they grow?
Every new employee adds communication paths, and the number of paths grows roughly with the square of headcount. Software engineer Fred Brooks described the effect in his 1975 book The Mythical Man-Month. More paths mean more meetings, approvals, and handoffs. A team of 10 has 45 possible pairs of communicators, while a team of 100 has 4,950.
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