I think you built a very nice business, but 'Lean Startup' as the term everyone is using reflects some guidelines and principles a project should follow - like customer development, learning cycle etc. Lean does not mean 'cheap' or 'without money' - it means lean as an athlete running fast to the finish line.

  Act as if we will never hire anyone, ever.

We have been running on 'don't hire anyone' mode for a while. But this engaged us in maintenance tasks rather than focusing on growth. I am still reluctant to hire full time employees, I prefer to hire freelancers and contractors than full time employees.

For certain tasks like web designing and copywriting, freelancers usually perform better than full time employees.

I think the most underutilized resource is undergrad interns.

I don't know exactly how competitive it is in the Valley, etc, but we have interns knocking down our doors to work with us at http://gorankem.com

we're one of the sexy opportunities in town, and the students are eager to boost their resume and get any experience they can.

and possibly the best part: they'd rather work for us for FREE than stuffing cabinets like some of their friends. it's a win-win :)

I had best experience working with undergrad interns. They are awesome to work with and hungry to learn.

This is wonderful. I wish they would go into more details about the various systems they developed for everything.

enjoyed this post a lot. great tips on what's worth your time & resources using the lean startup methodology.