If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product


Daily Espresso Shot

A specialty blend of startup wisdom

If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.

I've been thinking a lot about this quote. I hear and read it often in the startup communities. I think about the countless product ideas I've worked on that never reached the market.

Getting to the market with a new product or service can be challenging for many reasons. Over these last several weeks, fear had been holding me back from going live with my newest startup.

But launching was imminent.

On any given day, I'd second-guess the decisions.

Simple questions about reports and tools would remind us of the mountain of tasks we had to work through.

Questions repeat in my head like a broken record at any given time.

Did we pick the right technologies?

Did we test our sites enough to go live?

Are client integrations ready for live traffic?

Are we getting the best prices from our clients?

Are the landing pages ready be live?

Before launching, one of our trusted media buyers questioned our approach.

He simply asked, "Why not use what you used before?" 🤬

All of this made it difficult to move forward with a launch.

We were days away from our target launch day, and I could not help but reconsider our decisions.

Admittedly, the thought of delaying and doing a rebuild had appeal, especially if it meant we'd have more support from media buyers. It would give us more time to improve.

In many situations, perfectionism is a derailer for me. I wanted our launch to be perfect.

One of the co-founders circulated the reassuring words: "In Chris, we trust."

Deep down, I knew we were on the right track.

This isn't my first launch, and it isn't a first for my colleagues.

We know the business model works.

We know what type of systems and use cases need to be supported.

We know what could go wrong at launch.

We know how to recognize success.

We have the right relationships.

We know the playbook that works.

I had to accept our best was good enough. It was certainly good enough for the co-founders.

So we moved forward with our launch.

The results?

It was not perfect. Having real customers visiting our site caused issues, technical misunderstandings, and oversight.

While firefighting, it was easy to feel embarrassed by the issues we had to address.

The silver lining is how much we learned through the process.

As embarrassing as some of our mistakes were, I'm still proud of giving it our best and launching a new business.

A week has gone by and so much has improved. Revenue is improving each day.

This first launch gave us a huge boost in confidence, and it has given us a boost of energy to start strategizing our next campaign.

Unless you're a doctor or a rocket science where mistakes might cost someone their life- your best is likely good enough.

Brewed by yours truly,

Christopher Kennedy

I guarantee to include occasional grammatical errors and spelling mistakes gracefully.

If you have questions or comments, hit the reply button and send it.

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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