When Is Your Product Ready to Launch? What I Learned Creating Products

I’m in a bit of a quandary.

I think there is a fine line between knowing when to launch a new product and failing to launch because you’re never quite convinced it’s ready.

When is good enough actually good enough?

It’s often said that you only get one chance to make a first impression, and I want to make sure I get this right.

I’ve checked and rechecked. I’ve had testers go through my new software. One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that you learn a lot more by actually using software for a while than you do by simply going in and clicking on everything to see if it works.

There are things you just don’t notice until you use it the way it was intended to be used.

Of course, you can easily get stuck overanalyzing everything. Then there’s feature creep. You think, “It would be really cool if it did this too.” Before long, the product that was nearly ready suddenly needs three more features before you’ll let anyone see it.

But I think I’m actually ready to launch.

Sure, there are still things I’d like to add, but I’ve reached every must-have item I originally wanted. The things left on my list are improvements, ideas, and things that can come later. They aren’t reasons to keep the software hidden.

If you’re thinking about creating your own software, or you’re just curious about the process, I thought I’d outline some of my thought process. This isn’t the first project I’ve created, and I’ve found that one of the first questions you need to ask is pretty simple:

Why are you creating it?

Is it something you want for yourself? Is it something you think other people will want? Or is it simply, “I have an idea. Let’s see if I can make it.”

I’m guessing there really isn’t a right or wrong answer.

For me, with my most recent projects, it was a combination of two things. It was something I wanted, and I felt like other people might want it too.

I know not every business owner is like me. They don’t necessarily work the way I work or think the way I think. And I’m probably not like you either. It would be a pretty boring place if we all worked exactly the same way.

But that’s also one of the main reasons I created my most recent pieces of software.

There are plenty of software products already out there that do some of the same things mine does. I’m sure many of them are great. Some have been around for years and have thousands of customers.

They just don’t do things the way I want them to.

For me, there were little things that kept the software from clicking. Too many steps. Too much setup. Features buried where I wouldn’t expect them. Pricing that looked good until you actually needed to use the features you signed up for in the first place.

I think software should be intuitive and easy to use. You shouldn’t have to work at making software work for you.

Software is a tool. It should make your life easier. It shouldn’t become one more source of frustration, and it shouldn’t break the bank.

Obviously, software companies need to make money. I absolutely believe you should make a profit from something you create.

But take time-tracking software(opens in new tab) as an example. I’ve probably tested close to a dozen different options. A few of them didn’t make it an hour.

There were too many steps, too much setup, or features I simply didn’t need. And in several cases, there were pricing traps. The price looked great until you discovered the limitations attached to it.

Again, I get it. Some of these companies are supporting large teams. They have developers, assistants, management, customer support, servers, marketing, and plenty of other overhead.

But many small business owners are already juggling way too many things financially.

Just tell me what it costs!

I’d rather know what I’m getting into than be brought in at one price, fall in love with the product, build part of my business around it, and then discover that the service level I actually need costs two or three times more.

At that point, you’re back to square one looking for another app. Except now you’re doing it with a little more skepticism about trusting the next company.

That thinking has influenced how I’m building my own software too.

Which brings me back to my original question.

When should you really launch?

Maybe the answer isn’t when everything you can imagine has been added.

Maybe it’s when the software reliably does what you created it to do.

When the core problem is solved. When the must-have features work. When you’ve tested it yourself, let other people test it, fixed what you know is broken, and can honestly say, “Yes, this does what I promised it would do.”

There will always be another feature you could add. There will always be something you could improve. And there will probably be things real customers discover that you never thought about because they use the product differently than you do.

At some point, keeping it to yourself may actually slow down making it better.

I think that may be the line I’ve been looking for.

I’m actually putting this thinking into practice right now. I have a product that has reached that point. The must-haves are there, it’s been tested, and I’m down to checking a few final pieces before I let it out into the world. Assuming those final checks go the way I expect, you’ll probably hear more from me about it very soon.

Good enough doesn’t mean unfinished or sloppy. It means the product is ready to do its job, even though the product itself isn’t done growing.

And maybe launching isn’t the end of building the software.

Maybe it’s the point where the real building begins.