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Throw the launch mindset to the wind. I think our preoccupation with a huge launch owes more to its sexiness than to its practical importance for a startup. Yo
by brianlash 18y ago
Throw the launch mindset to the wind.
I think our preoccupation with a huge launch owes more to its sexiness than to its practical importance for a startup. You may catch lightning in a bottle with a launch that's met with a ton of fanfare. But you can also build an enduring success by focusing your time and energy on sale #1, then #2, and so on.
Your odds are long one way or the next (and granted things change when you need to observe network effects to succeed) but it seems it's almost always the better shot to build fast, iterate faster, and lean into whatever success you find along the way.
- ahoyhere 18y agoThis man makes some very good points. To which I'll add: expecting to do a huge launch means you will have to be "perfect" in order to catch this theoretical wave of attention: cuz you will just have that one chance! Which leads to much longer cycles, and a hesitancy to ship, because what if things aren't perfect? That's essentially "Big Upfront Marketing," or BUM. You see where I'm going with this.
- russell 18y agoAgreed. I did big launches in the pre-internet days, when the sage marketing advice was that you only had one chance to make a debut. No one was going to write about a 6 month old product. It was hugely expensive and the risk of failure or being ignore was high. Today it's way different. Put your site out there quietly. Find out the problems and strengths. Polish it. There is lots of good advice, here and elsewhere, about how to publicize your site.