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I remember sitting on the floor of our condo, surrounded by boxes, writing notes to people I had never met. We had just shipped some of our first orders. No systems. No automation. No playbook. Just a belief that if someone trusted us enough to try what we were building, the least we could do was acknowledge it.
So we started including Polaroids and handwritten notes in every first-time order. It was slow. It was messy. It made no sense from a traditional efficiency standpoint. And it ended up becoming one of the most important things we did. Not because it directly drove short-term results. Because it built a connection — and connection is what gives a business a chance to matter.
I thought scaling was the goal — I was wrong
Early on, I thought the objective was simple. Grow fast. Be efficient. Figure out how to do more with less. That’s what most advice reinforces. And it’s not wrong — it’s incomplete. Because if you optimize too early for scale, you risk removing the very thing that makes people care in the first place. Connection is not efficient. It takes time. It takes intention. And it’s difficult to measure.
Which is exactly why most companies deprioritize it.
The detail that changed everything
What started as something small became something much bigger over time. Our mother joined the business and took ownership of this experience. She has personally handwritten close to a million Polaroid notes to our customers. Not as a campaign. Not as a short-term activation. As a consistent part of how we show up. Over time, she even built a team around it to help continue the effort. Today, we still do it.
We don’t take photos every single day the way we did in the very beginning. We run photo shoots, plan ahead and then those photos are paired with handwritten notes that go out to customers. It’s not the most efficient system. But it’s intentional. And that small touch continues to make a meaningful difference. Not because of the format. Because of what it represents. Someone took the time.
What those “unscalable” moments actually do
When someone receives something personal, something clearly created with effort, it changes how they experience your brand. It shifts the interaction from transactional to human. They don’t just see a product. They feel like there are real people behind it. That feeling is difficult to replicate — and it’s even harder to replace once it exists.
Looking back, those Polaroids were never about the photo. They were about signaling something simple: “We see you.” In a world where most interactions are optimized for speed, that signal stands out.
Where some founders lose the thread
As soon as something starts working, the instinct is to optimize it. Automate responses. Standardize communication. Remove friction. That instinct makes sense. But here’s what I’ve learned over time: If you remove all the friction, you often remove the feeling. And the feeling is what people remember. Not the speed. Not the system. Not the process. The experience.
The shift that changed how I build
At some point, I stopped asking: “How do we scale this?” And started asking: “Where do we stay human, even as we grow?” That question forced us to be more intentional. Not about doing everything manually. But about protecting the moments that actually matter. Because not everything should be optimized — some things should be preserved.
Why this matters even more today
We’re moving into a world where automation is becoming the default. Responses can be generated instantly. Experiences can be streamlined end-to-end. Communication can be scaled without human involvement. That creates efficiency. But it also creates sameness.
So the opportunity is not just to move faster — it’s to know where to slow down. Because the more predictable interactions become, the more people notice what feels real.
How to apply this without slowing down your business
You don’t need to do everything manually, but you do need to be deliberate about where you invest human effort. Here’s what I would suggest:
1. Identify one moment that defines your customer experience
Choose a single point in your journey where you can create a meaningful interaction.
2. Add effort where it’s visible
People can feel when something required time and intention.
3. Stay in direct contact with your customers
Even at scale, find ways to maintain proximity.
4. Don’t remove everything that feels inefficient
Some of the highest-impact actions won’t make sense on paper.
5. Protect the intention, not the exact tactic
It’s not about Polaroids specifically. It’s about creating moments that make people feel acknowledged.
The advantage many people overlook
Most companies compete on things that are easy to compare. Price. Features. Distribution. Those things matter —but they are rarely enough on their own to create a lasting connection. What’s harder to compete on is how you make someone feel over time. And that is built through actions that don’t scale cleanly.
Final thought
If I could go back, I wouldn’t try to be more efficient earlier. I would double down on the things that felt small, slow and difficult to justify, because those were the things people remembered. The things that created stories.
The things that built a connection before we had anything else. Systems help you grow. But it’s the human moments that give people a reason to care. And in the long run, that’s what actually scales.
I remember sitting on the floor of our condo, surrounded by boxes, writing notes to people I had never met. We had just shipped some of our first orders. No systems. No automation. No playbook. Just a belief that if someone trusted us enough to try what we were building, the least we could do was acknowledge it.
So we started including Polaroids and handwritten notes in every first-time order. It was slow. It was messy. It made no sense from a traditional efficiency standpoint. And it ended up becoming one of the most important things we did. Not because it directly drove short-term results. Because it built a connection — and connection is what gives a business a chance to matter.
I thought scaling was the goal — I was wrong
Early on, I thought the objective was simple. Grow fast. Be efficient. Figure out how to do more with less. That’s what most advice reinforces. And it’s not wrong — it’s incomplete. Because if you optimize too early for scale, you risk removing the very thing that makes people care in the first place. Connection is not efficient. It takes time. It takes intention. And it’s difficult to measure.
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Jake Karls