I have built dozens of different products over the last couple of years. The vast majority failed. š
Surely if I know the answers to these questions, but still fail over and over again, these answers arenāt that useful. š¤·āāļø
So whatās a better question to ask? š¤
99.9% of the questions I receive are about the products that did well. In a way that makes sense, because we quickly forget about those that didnāt succeed.
š§ This is known as survivorship bias.
Focusing on what survived, while ignoring what made it survive in the first place.
The real question, what you really want to know, is this:
What makes
@WIP, @BetaList, and to some extent
@AllStartupJobs succeed where my countless other attempts failed?
What separates a failed product š from a successful product š?
Honestly, I donāt know. I wish I did.
Itās like Steve Jobs said āIāll know it when I see it.ā š
Same is true when we make products. We donāt know upfront what will work. But once we see an inkling of a product that does have potential, itās not that hard to spot.
š« The wrong idea requires you to push and push until youāre tired and canāt take it anymore.
š The right idea will pull you forwards.
š« The wrong product will have you begging people for feedback. Youāll cling to any comment remotely positive. (āWouldnāt use, but nice idea!ā)
š The right product will attract people wanting to use it. People will give feedback without you asking for it.
š« The wrong product will have you focused on the technology, fine-tuning the design, tweaking the copy.
š The right product will give you the confidence to ship something embarrassing, because you know despite all its shortcoming itās useful.
So keep shipping. Assuming your current product will fail and you need to try a bunch more before youāve found the metaphorical spaghetti that sticks to the wall. š
This means you need to keep your initial products small. If it takes 10 tries to find something that works, you canāt afford to spend more than month trying out an idea. š”ā³
Persistence is not about sticking with what doesnāt work. Persistence is continuously experimenting until youāve found something that goes work. ā»ļøšŖ
Happy shipping! š¢āØ
ā
Inspired by conversations in š§
@WIP https://t.co/J4IDFyoUgD
Grammar mistakes, stupid ideas, etc courtesy of tweeting at 6am in morning (thatās before I go to sleep, not after waking up). Bye! š“
Oh, and when I talk about successful products and refer to my own, I mean that in the context of whatās successful for me personally. I prefer speaking from personal experience hence referring to my own products.