{"id":436,"date":"2016-12-13T15:41:13","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T14:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/?p=436"},"modified":"2017-05-09T09:14:51","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T08:14:51","slug":"whats-killing-your-startup-18-mistakes-to-avoid-5-and-6-launching-too-early-or-too-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/2016\/12\/13\/whats-killing-your-startup-18-mistakes-to-avoid-5-and-6-launching-too-early-or-too-late\/","title":{"rendered":"What Mistakes Are Killing Your Startup? #5 and #6: Launching too Early\u2026 or too Late"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is one trend that did change the shape of the entrepreneurial ecosystem<\/strong> these last few years it has been the lean start-up movement. The concept is straightforward: It\u2019s the philosophy that you should validate your initial ideas (assumptions) with real-life data<\/strong> before you invest more time and money in your project.<\/p>\n

The premise of the lean start-up is that there is a high probability that the first iteration or implementation of your idea will often be wrong<\/strong> \u2013 and that\u2019s OK. As business plans fresh from the printer are \u2018useless\u2019, so there is no initial product \/ solution that can survive first interactions with its customers. The longer you delay the launch, the more you delay getting real answers from the market<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But this generates a follow-up question\u2026 I am often asked by entrepreneurs: \u00a0when should I launch?<\/strong> That is a very difficult question, because you have to answer it with another question: What is the risk you are facing if the solution you bring to market is not ready?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drew Houston<\/strong> (CEO and founder of Dropbox<\/strong>) commented the following when asked this same question: \u201cThere is a spectrum of well-informed opinions about when to launch your product. At one end, Paul Graham tell entrepreneurs; \u201claunch early and often\u201d to accelerate learning. At the other end (respected software guru) Joel Spolsky<\/strong> says: Launch when your product doesn’t completely suck\u201d. \u00a0In our case, we are managing peoples\u2019 files, and it\u2019s a big deal if you lose or ruin them. That meant working at Spolsky\u2019s end of the spectrum and keeping our beta test small.<\/p>\n

In other words, if you are working on a geo localized mobile dating app<\/strong> (what an innovation!); the risk is quite low\u2026<\/strong>what\u2019 the worst that can happen if you come across bugs and failures in the service? People won\u2019t be happy with the app \u2013 so what? You simply apologize \u2013 it\u2019s not as if you have done anything Illegal or dangerous. You now know the needs of your users better and you can work on improving your solution.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you are building a private submarine, the risk is of course a lot higher if the product is not perfect<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

So, when it comes to official launch, use the following checklist<\/strong>:<\/p>\n