This is Post No. 9 in How to Start a Business Series.
“I want to make a perfect start.” said my friend.
“You don’t need a perfect start. You just need to get started and improve as you roll,” I said.
“But my brand should be seen right at the launch.”
“OK,” I said, feeling that this was not the right approach for my friend who is just getting started with her pet project.
With this discussion in mind and current series in progress I thought about my perspective about starting something new and thought process at that time.
I have been in this situation myself and know how she and people in startup mode feel and think.
(Important side note: I am rooting for my friend to succeed in her new online venture, and I am confident that she will do well.)
Launch Early.
It helps because what you think your business is – and more importantly what you think your customers want is different from what they actually want.
Unless you launch, you will not get “real” customer feedback.
It may be just me, and your style may be seeking perfection. But success is better than perfection.
So get it out (idea into prototype) as soon as you can.
There will always be time for making updates and changes as we go and learn about the business and the customers. We should do tweaking when the stakes are not high – and that is almost always the case when we start building a business.
It Is OK, Because Not Many People Will Be Looking.
The idea is not to be launch a poor product.
Focus on making it good as good as you can and then launch.
Be Truthful and People Will Help You.
Tell people that this is a beta version and we will launch an improved version based on feedback. People will tell you what they want and what they don’t. There may be some harsh criticism also. It is OK if it is there. It is part of the game. But mostly people are generous and appreciative of people building new stuff.
Building something perfect is counter intuitive. If you take a lot of time to launch something very detailed and polished, will people pay double for it? May be not for a new startup. So a good thing is to validate your idea and start with one feature or service that people have told you that they will pay for. Move ahead from there.
After years of doing this. Moving from ideas in my head, failing to launch them and to converting ideas into businesses and community projects, many times over; I have learned that it makes sense to launch early and launch often.
It is good to have goals and milestones but to launch when all your features have been built – is not smart.
Do not worry about making it perfect. Do not waste precious time and energy into thinking whether this or that. Once your launch your customers will tell you.
More Benefits of launching early.
- You can do it in less time and money.
- You will quickly get to know what people want (based on their feedback) and build that as compared to what you “think” people want.
- If your business has to succeed, you will need to change what you started, so good to start lean.
- If you delay your launch, your enthusiasm may go down. It is good to launch while you are on a roll.
Go for it.
Action for today: Decide on a launch date, not too ahead in future. If you starting today that 3 weeks from now is good. Now make a action plan to launch on this date.
This is interesting!
Reminds me of that phase for 30TH FEB, launching early – implementing ideas, going through criticism – good, bad, encouraging and disheartening too……but it was all a learning experience.
And then the change – for good and again the same process.
I agree, launching early is good.
Yes Jigyasa.
It also helps if other pieces of business building are in their place.
Like going/reaching out and seeking feedback and business – after an early launch.
Good going 🙂