Subscribe
Sign in
What needs to be perfect with your product before launch?
I've just made the most difficult decision to put off my product launch until after a week later because I thought we are not ready.
A few shake-ups here and there. But this, in my opinion, while it is a setback, I see it instead as an opportunity to re-evaluate what we currently have. And make sure we get it right with our launch.
We're working on making our product worthy of this community. And we are working hard at it.
What is a non-negotiable for product launches in your opinion?
Let's hear your thoughts.
UPDATE: We finally fixed the issue we had and resolved to go live this Saturday. :)
I can't thank you all enough for all your amazing answers. We'll keep working hard on our product even post-launch. But of course, those early feedbacks will be vital to our growth.☺️
We are going live on PH on Saturday. Please find us here: https://www.producthunt.com/prod...
Thanks for your support.
95
Replies
Best
Krishna Kumar
IMHO, nothing will ever be perfect. You can strive towards perfection, but rarely do you achieve it. Therefore, it is ok to launch an "imperfect" product as long as it works and then keep making improvements, particularly if they are based on user feedback
just my two bits
Report
Share
@kkumarkg awesome. Thank you for your take on this. Truly, as long as the product works, that is what matters. Incremental progress can always be made afterwards.
I don't think one can ever make anything perfect. Waiting to be perfect to launch is almost like shooting self in the foot.
When we launched https://kloudmate.com, we just launched a basic MVP to see if there were any takers (validation) before building further.
@pranabgohain
Amazing! Core functionality truly matters.
Kloudmate looks really good. You must've come a long way with this for sure.
That's laudable, Pranab. Let's continue to ship more valuable products into the world.🌟
@emmanuelnwosu Thanks for saying that! Launching OpenTelemetry integration in less than 3 weeks. Lezzgo! ✊🏼
It guess it totally depends on the kind of product... a simple app, then sure... rough and ready is perfect for PH like: https://www.producthunt.com/prod...
We're launching a much bigger concept tomorrow, we did launch with alpha users and early adopters but only with word of mouth and not over a big platform like PH. We're actually launching for the 1st time on PH tomorrow if you would like to follow along and see how it goes: https://www.producthunt.com/prod...
@john_carmichael
This looks good, John. I understand it's your first iteration. But the concept is already as valuable as it should be.
Wishing you good luck on your launch tomorrow.
I've followed already and will be on the test wagon to leave you some claps tomorrow.
@emmanuelnwosu amazing thank you! we've actually done a few iterations with alpha users and early business accounts. However, this is the 1st time "out in the open" so to speak :)
@emmanuelnwosu you can see the previous launch of mine last month on this discussion https://www.producthunt.com/disc...
To take a swing at the hard question, I think that your value proposition — as it is understood today — should be near perfectly communicated. I think this allows for maximum learning with regard to product and market!
As others have pointed out, perfect is the enemy of good. Speed and validation is the name of the game before you cross the chasm. I’ve seen countless founders just get stuck at perfect and never launch.
Nothing. It is all about the experience and improvement of our products, companies, teams, etc. But for sure it is great to make it as perfect as possible from your sight.
The balance between nothing and everything. Nothing should be perfect, but we want everything to be perfect.
Good luck with your future launch! For me non-negotial for product launch is underdelivering - by that I mean not including the crucial features that users would need to fully experience the solution. Even during MVP advanced features can be built on over time as updates but key features that bring value should be included from the start
Hey, definitely understand where you're coming from. Good for you for making the best decision for your product/company.
I agree with many others here that certainly not everything needs to be perfect for launch, but I do think that the 'aha' moment in your product should be evident. Like, that particular flow should be optimised to the best extent possible. If the user is able to recognise core value in your product they will overlook other flaws; if they cannot find the value, the launch is not going to be effective.
@charmandro
I agree, Charlotte. While marketing is important, the value seen in a product will always sell itself. Your strategy only amplifies it, in my opinion. Just as the microphone amplifies the voice of a beautiful songstress, who'd still have people listen to her if she sang without a mic.
This is another important thing to keep an eye out for, and constantly evaluate to see how well your product, your message, and how its value's stock is performing.
We learned it the hard way, still learning, with a startup you can't wait til it's perfect to launch. Then you'll just be dragging out and keep fixing bugs forever, when what you should be doing is getting the product out there to get feedback. I would say just have the basic functionalities of what you're building to work (because you need to see what you're solving/assuming is a problem is something that needs to be solved).
@shaaay This screams PMF.
Sometimes, we end up "solving problems" that don't even exist. And we'd never know this unless we get the opinion of the customer (s) from early stage.
This helps a lot for redirection. It's also why I always argue for lean startups whenever the Lean Startup Vs Deliberate Startup debate is brought up.
This is a really hard Q, personally, I think if something is perfect, you launched to late
@paul_pamfil, wow!
This got me thinking a lot.😅
But I understand your point. This is why MVPs exist, isn't it?
There's always room for incremental progress. :)
I think it's hard to ever feel 'ready' when it's your product. I think as long as the product you're launching has some value to someone, then it's a successful launch! Don't forget that you can always launch again and again. Thinking of it as one 'big-bang' release that you have to absolutely get right will just mean you keep putting it off.
I believe having major bugs resolved before launch is crucial because this will leave an impression on the product and other factors (like the retention, and adoption). I don't believe there's ever a finished or perfect product.
also, congrats on the launch! that's an interesting product :)
This thread has become a great resource for me. Thank you, @emmanuelnwosu. I'm also dealing with similar questions.
I've been working on building jeezai.com (AI Internship Platform) and budbuddyai.com (World's first AI Budtender), but I'm not quite sure when to launch...
@youraimarketer
Hey, Muratcan, I hope you found valuable answers on this thread. I know I did.
From your description of these products, they sure look like valuable products. If it's ready, ship it! I 100% agree.
If you know it’s buggy, delay it.
If it doesn’t convey your message, delay it.
If it doesn’t have distribution in place, delay it.
If it is incomplete, just ship the thing!
@luiseduardodev
Okay, it's not buggy.🧐
It conveys our message just great.☺️
There's a distribution strategy in place.🚀
Is it incomplete? Quite, yeah. We've been bootstrapping with limited resources, but we are real proud of how far we've come with this. And can't wait to show it to the world.
I'd take your advice, Luis! 😀
I will always make sure the customer is getting the best experience possible with what is available. So if that means removing some of the functionality for the MVP then I will and add it in later.
The customer is your number 1 marketing channel!
@luke_emery
I know a maker who'll never compromise core functionality for aesthetics or to achieve multi-functionality. "Never a good idea to confuse your customer on what your product actually does," he'll say. This is such a good take, Luke.
Thanks!
If you mean sale pitch I strongly believe that having a social proof after each feature of your product is very important
@uthman_abdulrahim
Yeah, I agree, Uthman. This weighs in on how much popularity you garner with the users, isn't it?
This is why it is important to LISTEN to what the market needs.
The trickiest part is to dive head forward when you know you don't really have a polished product.
Just launch, keep getting feedback and improve from there. A fresh customer perspective might be that one spark that will light up your whole product.
