This god damn Two Pizza rule. Let me tell you a story about it. In 2013 I was raising funds for my startup . I meet an associate at top VC firm. A freshly minted MBA + consulting guy.who was armed to teeth with every startup clichés. Nice person otherwise. Contd. https://twitter.com/ponnappa/status/1319690124133756929

I gave very conservative hiring plan of 7 people in a year . 2 backend , 2 front-end , 1 data, 1 QA ,1 Content and CS. He said that's too much ! Why not two pizza team. I liked the guy so I said " that rule is for team not company". Contd.

He insisted: " No ! This plan is very aggressive. How many pizza you need for it . " I said : " Unless we are drunk two pizza will be more than enough". He said : Really? Two Pizza for 7 PPL"

Then it hit me . There was a massive disconnect. This guy has never been to USA . Where pizza is bigger by default . So in Amz lingo 2 pizza mean 6 ppl safely. More if you have chicago style casserole pizza . Our VC guy assumed it's desi dominos pizza medium

I showed him clip of breaking bad to explain the size of pizza. He was embarrassed at first laughed later . Went out for coffee with me after meeting. In followed up for 3 week but He went radio silent . Finally I run into him at TiE Delhi. He bought me coffee again

I asked for feedback . he said you need to rework your distribution and go to market plan . This OEM partnership is not for you (we had letter of intent from 2 OEM). I asked why ? He said : You are startup you should do things that don't scale , like Airbnb. I excused myself

Every rule of thumb is based in a context . Airdropping American metaphor is counter productive.