{"id":9897,"date":"2014-11-11T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=9897"},"modified":"2020-03-30T18:59:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T22:59:28","slug":"set-startup-success-launch-formula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/set-startup-success-launch-formula","title":{"rendered":"Set up your startup for success with this launch formula"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve barely been awake for 20-minutes and I\u2019ve already been bombarded with an updated Twitter newsfeed of 140-character mind-regurgitations from no less than 200 people.<\/p>\n

Unlike these never-ending distractions disguised as information, there\u2019s another type of information that business-owners unequivocally consider a strategic asset, dubbed \u201cbusiness intelligence\u201d\u2013 business data resulting from testing, surveys and all other forms of market research.<\/p>\n

Business Intelligence is\u00a0the new hottest resource in the startup community<\/a>, and like other forms of information, there is certainly no shortage of it. Overall, this is a good thing that all businesses should be taking advantage of. Having some information is always better than having none at all, as information should lead to informed actions and allow startups to focus better, avoid missteps and scale faster. You also need to tread carefully.<\/p>\n

The abundance of information could be paralyzing<\/b><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s always one more report to pull. There\u2019s always one more survey to send. There\u2019s always one more question to ask. There\u2019s always one more tweak to make and there\u2019s always one more feature to build.<\/p>\n

Sure, data should be gathered to strategically guide your business through the launch process, but it\u2019s easy to take business intelligence a bit too far. When launching something new, some people get so excited (read: overwhelmed) by the choices and possibilities of their project that they forget that eventually, they need to, you know, actually launch it. Of course, it\u2019s smart to make informed decisions, but between the data that\u2019s already been captured as well as the potential data that needs to be gathered, it\u2019s easy to fall into a self-perpetuating cycle of startup limbo and never actually launch \u2014 Founder\u2019s Paralysis as I like to call it. Who can blame them?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exciting to build something new, and it\u2019s scary to release your project into the world. Why not prolong the feeling of \u201cbuilding something new\u201d without taking that emotional risk as long as possible? Eventually, you need to launch, and if you\u2019ve already gathered any sort of data and made subsequent tweaks and improvements, chances are you\u2019re more ready for launch than you think you are.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t focus on launching a perfect product<\/b><\/h2>\n

If you dismiss the first warning and plan to gather tons of data in order to improve your product as much as possible prior to launch, you should rethink your plan. After all, what is \u201cperfect\u201d? Does that imply you\u2019re going to launch once and never add-on to or improve upon your initial product? Of course not. After all, as Winston Churchill said, \u201cTo improve is to change. To perfect is to change often.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you think you\u2019re getting good data to work with while you\u2019re still in pre-launch, wait until you actually launch\u2013 that\u2019s when you\u2019ll see some real actionable data to build an amazing product. When you finally launch, feedback both good and bad is going to come in. No matter how much business intelligence you gather and how much tweaking you do pre-launch, you\u2019re going to quickly realize there are more features your customers would like to see, more marketing claims people want to hear, and more bugs to fix. Again, business intelligence is important \u2014 without it, you\u2019re launching blindly while building what you think your customers will want and not necessarily what your customers actually want.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter if you haphazardly launched your business, or beautifully conducted a methodical launch plan\u2013 there will always be a few more things you need to add or improve on, but you\u2019ll never know what they are until you launch. So rather than delaying the launch process, you\u2019re much better off launching sooner rather than later and making improvements based on real-life feedback.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t focus on launching a complete product<\/b><\/h2>\n

Launching a 100% complete product is impossible. Look at Facebook, arguably one of the most successful businesses of all time. Some of their most iconic features did not exist until years into the business like Facebook messenger, photo tagging, status updates. All are now arguably essential features, but were they essential for launch? No. Waiting to launch until you implement all of your plans means you\u2019ll always be moving the \u201cGO\u201d line forward, and you\u2019ll never get off the ground, so make sure you understand the difference between what\u2019s needed for launch and what\u2019s needed eventually.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t give up on press opportunities<\/b><\/h2>\n

Ok, so let\u2019s say you dismiss the first three warnings, you launch a picture-perfect product that doesn\u2019t need any improvements. You think you might\u2019ve beaten the odds, but you unknowingly just put your business at another competitive disadvantage: a lack of press-worthy events. Bringing on new features and improvements is a great opportunity to reach out to your followers as well as journalists. As any marketing expert will tell you, if you have any legitimate reason to reach out and have a conversation with your email list or the press, you should take advantage of that opportunity. Launching with all of your features eliminates that opportunity.<\/p>\n

So where\u2019s the balance between launching in a timely manner and launching thoughtfully and methodically?<\/p>\n

The successful startup launch formula<\/b><\/h2>\n

No two businesses are alike, so no two launch plans will be identical, but if you follow the general path of other successful startup launches, you can drastically improve your odds of a successful launch. Of all startup launches to mimic (imitation is the greatest form of flattery after all), I can\u2019t think of a more savvy launch plan to follow than\u00a0the one Ryan Hoover used<\/a>\u00a0to launch\u00a0Product Hunt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. Prove the concept<\/b><\/h2>\n

So you have an intriguing idea you\u2019d like to pursue? The key word here to recognize is \u201cyou\u201d. You need to have a customer base beyond just \u201cyou\u201d in order to build a business; otherwise, it\u2019s just a hobby (which is totally fine, just call it what it is). Forget about being \u201ctoo early\u201d to talk to someone. Forget about someone stealing your idea. Whether your idea is a product, a service, an app, a website, whatever\u2013 you need to discuss your idea with others, preferably future customers, in order to get an initial sense of viability.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of quick and easy ways to get an initial sense of market viability:<\/p>\n