Do not be Embarrassed

Russell Perkins, ICG

Post by: Russell Perkins, ICG

”If you’re not at least a little embarrassed by something you just launched, you probably waited too long to start it.” So says Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit and a number of other high profile web media products.

This statement, provocative as it is, actually is little more than a smart synthesis of the current state of play in the world of online product development. You no doubt hear variants of this theme regularly, sometimes expressed as ”minimum viable product,” ”rapid iteration,” and even ”fast fail.” They all embody the philosophy that it’s more important to launch a new product quickly than launch a really good new product. I credit Google for raising this practice to high art by teaching users that the word ”beta” appended to any product name excused the product from delivering much value, or even working properly, for an often extended period of time.

I certainly agree that there is an imperative for speed in the world of online content. We’re surrounded by hordes of competitive start-ups, many of them explicitly attempting to disrupt market incumbents. But before we decide to emulate these companies, it’s important to note their typically distinctive business models.

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