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Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

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Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#11

Post by tptacek »

emmett wrote: post #6
tptacek wrote: post #3

37Signals has launched four (4) commercial products, and takes in (by my guess, from headcount and subscription numbers) mid-high 7 figures from them. Aaron Swartz has launched, by my count, no successful products (unless I'm wrong and Reddit wasn't already a success story when he got there). From Aaron's own web page, here's what I get when I click on his "my day job" link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29804691@N02/…

While I agree 37signals has a much more impressive product track record than Aaron does and know quite a bit about marketing their products, the source of a statement has nothing to do with its validity. Either Aaron's argument is right, or it's wrong, independent of Aaron's status as a developer or entrepreneur. That being said, I think Aaron is right about the proper method to launch a website, and also that if you…

I think there's a difference between the 37signals plan and the Aaron Swartz plan, which is that the Aaron Swartz plan says "don't market until you have happy customers", and then uses the spectre of product quality failures to back the argument up. Happy customers and crashing servers are orthogonal issues.

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#12

Post by gojomo »

tptacek wrote: post #3

37Signals has launched four (4) commercial products, and takes in (by my guess, from headcount and subscription numbers) mid-high 7 figures from them. Aaron Swartz has launched, by my count, no successful products (unless I'm wrong and Reddit wasn't already a success story when he got there). From Aaron's own web page, here's what I get when I click on his "my day job" link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29804691@N02/…

The 'Hollywood Launch' can work if you already have notoriety to leverage, and already have the experience/userbase to do iterative improvement/testing internally. Steve Jobs is master of the Hollywood Launch.

If you're a small, young team making your first product, the dream of a 'Hollywood Launch' is destructive. It causes you to delay getting bulk feedback from disinterested strangers. It slows the organic learning/testing loop. It delays launch as you try to ensure you'll make a good first impression. And as Aaron notes, there's always something that goes wrong on a contrived 'big day'.

Steve Jobs and Apple on their umpteenth launch can usually keep those glitches to a minimum. (But not always: see MobileMe.) 37signals on their Nth launch of another webapp in the same mold as their other N-1 apps can pull this off, too.

But a young team launching a brand-new product will gain more from a measured ramp-up than an engineered hype-storm. They should listen to Aaron.

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#14

Post by axod »

tptacek wrote: post #9
axod wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a harsh analysis and I don't think it's necessary to get personal about it. I'd say the launch of gmail was expertly done, and one that a lot of people copy. Look at what happens when companies decide to "release" to everyone at the same time with a big PR frenzy - cuil. The companies that slowly but constantly grow seem to do better than the ones that go for a big style "launch" IMHO. Releasing with a…

You're right: if you do a glamour launch of your product without making the effort on quality, you end up like Cuil (and I concede that Cuil is a good counterexample). I object to the "either-or" argument the original post makes, and I object to the snide "we're only doing it this way because 37signals says to", as if 37signals doesn't have a store of credibility here that Aaron lacks.

Apart from 37signals though (Which isn't a good example IMHO - they have a rails 'fanbase'), what successful "Big release hollywood film" examples are there?

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#15

Post by tptacek »

axod wrote: post #14
tptacek wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right: if you do a glamour launch of your product without making the effort on quality, you end up like Cuil (and I concede that Cuil is a good counterexample). I object to the "either-or" argument the original post makes, and I object to the snide "we're only doing it this way because 37signals says to", as if 37signals doesn't have a store of credibility here that Aaron lacks.

Apart from 37signals though (Which isn't a good example IMHO - they have a rails 'fanbase'), what successful "Big release hollywood film" examples are there?

That's a good question. I'm having a slow day today; let me go look. If you don't see a response, I'll have conceded that there is no other good example of a successful "Hollywood" launch by a small startup. That would definitely hurt my argument.

[edit: my slow day got fast, but I also did have trouble coming up with a clear-cut example of a small company glamour launch success.]

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#16

Post by profgubler »

I think that both can work. It depends on the goals of the company and type of software they are launching. I do think that gmail is a terrible example though. Google can launch anything, slowly or Hollywood style and it will get attention.Granted not everything they do succeeds, but Google has an advantage with any new product launches. A better example might be the original launch of Google.

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#17

Post by mojombo »

I find this to be excellent advice. This is exactly the approach we took at GitHub almost down to the letter. It took about 2 months until the site was good enough to use to host the GitHub source, another month until we started private beta with invites, and three more months until public launch.

Artificial scarcity is a great technique to generate excitement for a product while also limiting growth to a rate that won't melt your servers. We worked through a huge number of problems and early users gave us some of the ideas that have defined GitHub. By doing a Hollywood launch, things would have been very different and I am convinced, very much worse.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT underestimate how much your users will help you to define your product. If you launch without having significant user feedback time, you've essentially thrown away a massive (and free) focus group study.

Let me also say that when we finally did our public launch, there was plenty of buzz, and all of it was the RIGHT kind of buzz. The buzz that attracts real, lasting customers (and no, we weren't on TechCrunch, that traffic is garbage).

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#18

Post by dangrover »

spolsky wrote: post #5
tptacek wrote: post #3

37Signals has launched four (4) commercial products, and takes in (by my guess, from headcount and subscription numbers) mid-high 7 figures from them. Aaron Swartz has launched, by my count, no successful products (unless I'm wrong and Reddit wasn't already a success story when he got there). From Aaron's own web page, here's what I get when I click on his "my day job" link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29804691@N02/…

When you're finished with the ad hominem part of your attack, I'd just like to weigh in and say that Aaron got this exactly right.

Best comeback ever (tptacek, I mean :))

I think you definitely need some balance between the two. Do a glitzy hollywood launch only after you've minimized the things that could go wrong.

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#19

Post by tstegart »

ivankirigin wrote: post #10

But does the Hollywood launch hurt? It seems like the reasonable way to go is to get a big bump when you open doors, iterate using the feedback of people that stay, and get more coverage whenever you release a big new feature set. Certain sites don't really make sense with invite codes too.

You're right. I think web apps get a huge benefit from soft launches, beta testing and user feedback. Its just invaluable information to have before you really present yourself.

On the other hand, if you're launching the next ValleyWag site, the Hollywood launch might be the way to go.

Re: Aaron Swartz: How To Launch Software

#20

Post by axod »

mojombo wrote: post #17

I find this to be excellent advice. This is exactly the approach we took at GitHub almost down to the letter. It took about 2 months until the site was good enough to use to host the GitHub source, another month until we started private beta with invites, and three more months until public launch. Artificial scarcity is a great technique to generate excitement for a product while also limiting growth to a rate that w…

Completely agree. There is just so much value to be gained from early users suggestions, and going through a few iterations.

Those early users are amazingly important. The overly passionate verging on stalker types that IM you asking if you just changed the color of a link and then tell you exactly what they think about it.

It was a similar story with Mibbit, although I didn't bother with beta, just threw the site up there and started iterating. The growth isn't quite a hockey stick, but it's extremely consistent which means I can grow the product along with the userbase.

Also I agree about techcrunch type traffic. Early on with Mibbit it got to the top on proggit. It was sort of fun, got a reasonable number of people in that night who looked around, said this is cool, then went... never to be seen again. Next day it was pretty dead. I think that's pretty typical.

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