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The YC credo is about building something people want and shipping your MVP ASAP. What I see time and time again with teams and people prelaunch is a lack of a

The YC credo is about building something people want and shipping your MVP ASAP. What I see time and time again with teams and people prelaunch is a lack of a catalyst to ship their MVP. I've met many people who have an idea and their MVP is 95% complete. Then things stall and feature creep sets in for three reasons: 1) Your MVP will, by design, have technical debt. No one likes debt. 2) Releasing means a shift from being a dev/engineer to being a marketer and building the company that builds the product. And you do this while also working on your technical debt. If your sales stall, then you are stuck in "should I spend more money on time on marketing" hell. 3) Anyone who can build something people want and create an MVP has numerous alternatives for certain income. So as much as I'd like to ship my MVP next month I procrastinate since I am also a consultant who bills at good hourly rate and I can just do that instead. Good isn't just the enemy of great. Good is also a great hedge against the time waste of building a business that is no fun to operate and isn't profitable which is why many MVPs never ship. Edit: typos, clarity

moltar 5y ago
Ugh you just described my life for the past month. 95% there. Keep procrastinating on the ship button press (literally CodePipeline approval).
pototo666 5y ago
This！ I launch my MVP last month. I can't agree more with you. 1. Tech debts. The coder inside my just to write better code. And writing better code is satisfying. 2. After launch, I become more of a marketer than an engineer. Being a marketer is less enjoyable than being an engineer. I secretly know this before launch. 3. Alternative for income. Yes, I have another side project, whose users calling for more features. I can't help spending time on that project. Thanks so much for clarifying this. edit: what truly prompt me to launch is the death of my mom, which reminded me I have waited too long to do important things.

moltar 5y ago

Ugh you just described my life for the past month. 95% there. Keep procrastinating on the ship button press (literally CodePipeline approval).

pototo666 5y ago

This！ I launch my MVP last month. I can't agree more with you. 1. Tech debts. The coder inside my just to write better code. And writing better code is satisfying. 2. After launch, I become more of a marketer than an engineer. Being a marketer is less enjoyable than being an engineer. I secretly know this before launch. 3. Alternative for income. Yes, I have another side project, whose users calling for more features. I can't help spending time on that project. Thanks so much for clarifying this. edit: what truly prompt me to launch is the death of my mom, which reminded me I have waited too long to do important things.