🦚 Setting your own standards for shipping

Hey there! 👋

We are graciously leading up to the launch of my first startup, Letdir, which launches on Monday, January 22nd, 2024.

I am working hard to make sure it lives up to my own standards. I am, for example, in the process of adding authentication, and dynamic routing in Next.js, as well as newsletter collections and sponsorship opportunities on top of the minimal viable product that is the newsletter database.

It can be particularly difficult when the thing standing in your way is... yourself.

I'm sure you have experienced perfectionism as well, haven't you friend?

As a former graphic designer, It feels unnatural to me to release something before it's finished. This is because design is usually the end product, with little opportunity to change it later on.

I've spent 3 years of my life practically pursuing perfectionism in my design. And now it's time for me to change this view altogether.

Being in the startup community has made me realize waiting for the 'perfect moment' will hold us back.

It holds us back because it delays crucial pieces of information, such as feedback from the community and the opportunity to move on to build another product that might work much better.

Shipping late can cause you to work too much on an idea that does not deserve that kind of attention.

The amazing thing about the idea of shipping fast is the opportunity for improvement and growth.

Shipping fast, and in public, allows us to receive quick feedback from our friends on social media, which turns into great improvement of our products over time.

Our friends not only help us grow, but they also teach us the best way to build our products. It is the optimal way to learn.

We can turn their feedback into monthly revenue, just by shipping early.

That is why being "precisely on schedule" is shipping your products before they are ready.

So... you have to stop standing on your own path to success. What does it matter if you are 1 or 2 features short? You can always implement them after release, together with the new feedback you have accumulated.

→ What is something you have worked too hard on relative to its importance?

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I am sort of a victim of this myself. Building a directory could be done much faster. This is happening because I want to code it myself, and as it is new territory, it has slowed me down.

Still, I've decided to focus on getting the most important features out for the launch before I work on creating newsletter collections and sponsorship opportunities.

This week, in particular, I managed to create a submission form, so you can submit your newsletter to Letdir (I shipped this feature whilst implementing your feedback on changing the header title).

I also created user authentication for users to create collections at a later date...

I will start working on newsletters' expanded pages with dynamic routing as well as pagination and implementing RLS for my database connections. Then I also have to start worrying about uploading Letdir to Product Hunt and the marketing stuff.

You know, working on the final fundamentals before launch.

Hope to see you there!

Speak soon,

Magnus 🦚