Ask HN: Should I launch or polish my product more? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Should I launch or polish my product more?

#11

Post by AznHisoka » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 2:31 PM UTC

andremedeiros wrote: post #8

adam-_- wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the point in launching polished features that nobody wants? Much better to release unpolished/limited features to a set of users and solicit feedback on what they're really after. Then you can release more polished/complete features and market more widely and solicit more feedback and rinse and repeat to profitability (admittedly I say this as someone that has not done this yet but plans/hopes on it).

I honestly wish you good luck. I've had too many occasions where, when evaluating a service that didn't quite do it for me. You can't expect customers to register and pay you money for a service when a) it doesn't do everything they need, and b) there is no certainty that it will ever do everything they need. Grhmpft... software is hard. Let's go shopping!

There's a middle path. Release it even when it's not done, but don't go full throttle on marketing.

Re: Ask HN: Should I launch or polish my product more?

#12

Post by brudgers » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:29 PM UTC

Have you read 37signals Getting Real ?

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php

Re: Ask HN: Should I launch or polish my product more?

#13

Post by tnorthcutt » Fri, Aug 17, 2012, 5:39 AM UTC

Launch.

Charge money. No, more than that.

Go read everything patio11 has written about pricing. Especially his latest about how to set your tiers.

Re: Ask HN: Should I launch or polish my product more?

#14

Post by _6tfp » Fri, Aug 17, 2012, 6:34 AM UTC

tnorthcutt wrote: post #13

Launch. Charge money. No, more than that. Go read everything patio11 has written about pricing. Especially his latest about how to set your tiers.

Thanks for the pointer. I'll definitely check it out. For others, the blog can be found here => http://www.kalzumeus.com/greatest-hits/

Re: Ask HN: Should I launch or polish my product more?

#15

Post by hansy » Wed, Aug 22, 2012, 3:40 PM UTC

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

- Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn

Re: Ask HN: Should I launch or polish my product more?

#16

Post by helen842000 » Fri, Aug 24, 2012, 2:03 PM UTC

Why not have several mini-launches?

Launch the free, get feedback and iterate. You could post the price list but make the higher tiers unavailable at the moment. You could offer a wait list or make it invite only after they have tried a free account.

Then when you launch the higher tiers you have a list to contact. Get their feedback and continue to improve.

I think it gives people confidence that you are actively improving the service if they can see a feature set list that will be in the forthcoming paid version.

If it's not costly, don't restrict people on volume on the free plan just yet.

You then get data on the natural usage levels your service gets.This might help you to refine your volume cut offs in future.