I’ve recently read “Great by Choice“. The author analyzed hundreds of US companies. I was impressed by learning that the key difference between winners and losers is not innovations or constant changes. Rather, on the contrary, winners stick to their principles and plans. Also, in execution, discipline, and saving resources. We think that the hardest thing is to build the app, site or game. After launch, at least after getting to TechCrunch, we will be getting so much traffic daily, that our server will be on fire.
Did you try to contact TC journalists? I tried with ProductHunt’s #3 project of the day. And it didn’t work.
The biggest issue is to get enough users. Usually, nobody cares about your idea until you prove its value. So it’s vital to keep it in mind while trying to attract new users. Amazing design, polished UX or latest technologies under the hood will not help. Usually, founders do not think about marketing at all. They usually have only one idea of how to acquire users. Which often doesn’t work.
After launching an MVP which does not solve a problem or can’t attract users, founders either don’t have enough guts to pivot or simply don’t have enough resources.
In the best scenario – you will need to make 3-4 pivots to get MVP which solves the problem. So you need to have x3-4 more time & money.
What to do with all the above?
- Learn how to code basic (at least HTML/CSS), git. Talk with developers daily. Ask for demos weekly.
- Cut off as many features as possible from MVP.
- Launch the product as fast as possible. Do not polish design. You LOSE time & money with every day before launch.
- Do marketing activities as early as possible.
- Make sure you have enough resources for 3-4 pivots when you start.
