When I was an early employee at Syncplicity, I only optimized the desktop clients to meet my needs as a power user.
Most users didn't use the product at as much of a scale that I did, so they were happy. The users who tried to use the product at a higher scale were so few that we just accepted that we couldn't meet their needs and grow our business.
So, to generalize:
1: Growing your business is more important than scaling for 100% of your users. Scale for 98% of your users and invest in use cases that will grow your business.
2: An early stage startup doesn't need to scale like Google. If your business takes off like that, you'll be able to hire enough smart people to fix the problem. Instead, spend time growing your business.
Most users didn't use the product at as much of a scale that I did, so they were happy. The users who tried to use the product at a higher scale were so few that we just accepted that we couldn't meet their needs and grow our business.
So, to generalize:
1: Growing your business is more important than scaling for 100% of your users. Scale for 98% of your users and invest in use cases that will grow your business.
2: An early stage startup doesn't need to scale like Google. If your business takes off like that, you'll be able to hire enough smart people to fix the problem. Instead, spend time growing your business.