In a world with so much noise, where everything tries to be bigger and better than it’s competitor, less has truly become more.
Many software products seem to become increasingly bloated throughout their lifecycle. The need to stay competitive inevitably leads to an overblown feature set where the core of the product is overshadowed. This has brought us into an age where feature requests take precedent over smart product design decisions and customer feedback drives product design.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
This happens because, when entrepreneurs set out to solve a problem, they ask “How can I improve X” when they really should be asking ”How can I make X drastically simpler”. Products like Square, Stripe and Medium have ushered in a new age of “Do one thing and do it damn well”. My Co-founder Matt Boyd actually wrote an excellent post on this topic. I highly recommend checking it out.
Use the noise to your advantage
Contrary to what you might think, all this noise actually makes it easier to stand out. Well designed and thoughtful products almost always get the spotlight over the crappy ones, because they dare to be original and stop trying to be something they’re not.
“Pinterest meets Dribbble for pets”
If this sounds even remotely like your startup pitch, I’d highly suggest taking another look at the problem and how you are trying to solve it. Stop trying to be all things to all people and just do one thing extremely well.
Conclusion
If you want to stand out, do less but do it damn well. Less is more.
What do you think? Do you agree with my point of view or maybe you see it a different way? Leave a comment below and let’s chat about it!
Editor’s note: This story was written by Eric Bieller and originally appeared here.