Has it "failed"? You have a user base, and you've experimented with lots of features very quickly. You now you have a very clear idea of what you want, what th

Has it "failed"? You have a user base, and you've experimented with lots of features very quickly. You now you have a very clear idea of what you want, what the market wants, and a sense of how different features and implementations contribute to that. Did you have such a clear idea at the beginning? Could have have gotten this clarity in any other way? Prototyping won't tell you the right way, but it gives you concrete terms to think within: by holding some aspects constant, it's easier to reason about the remaining aspects. Prototyping is an aid to thinking. But I feel your pain; this is an ordeal. It would be so much less frustrating to know how to do everything perfectly in the first place. :-)