Is limiting early access to a product a mistake—or a strategic advantage?

As a founder, you’re constantly balancing growth vs positioning.

With Xaloia AI, we made a decision that goes against the usual playbook:
we limited our Founder Plan to 500 users. No scaling, no reopening.

The idea wasn’t scarcity for hype—but to keep early access meaningful and focused on people who really understand where this space is going (human-first AI, privacy-first architecture, etc.).

Still, I’m aware this can be seen both ways:

• It creates strong early positioning

• But it also caps short-term growth

I’m curious how others here think about this:

👉 Would you limit early access to protect positioning?
👉 Or maximize reach and optimize later?

Would love to hear how you’ve approached this in your own products.