Why spending a lot of money and time to create a new product is not always a good idea

Perfectionism may be a key to failure.

Let’s admit it – most startups fail. Working with startup companies for many years, I came to the conclusion that a lot of companies share one problem that sucks their budgets, motivation, and as a result leads to failure or dramatic over-spending. The problem is called perfectionism.

I mean there’s nothing bad about being a perfectionist, but in most cases MVPs don’t require pixel-perfect design or dozens of “amazing” features that stakeholders try to design and deploy before the initial launch.

Smart ways to use your time and money

Here’s a bunch of ideas we have, which will hopefully help new startup entrepreneurs work on their products more effectively and efficiently.

• Instead of creating a perfect product, focus on MVP. Let it be simple and plain, but really working.
• Use iterations. Quick wireframing, testing, design, testing, deployment, testing, and then launch. Then you can switch to perfecting and polishing your solution. But at this point you will get real users’ feedback that will help you wisely channel your energy (and investors’ money).
• Distribute your budget gradually over a longer period of time. Don’t spend $120 within a month. Better to spend $10 each month over the course of a year. The results will be fascinating.

• Steal ideas like crazy. C’mon, you know everyone does it. Inventing your own bicycle will never pay off. Instead, use existing best practices and tested techniques.
• Test, test, test. Don’t be afraid to get negative feedback – you are sure to have it. Show your MVP to more and more people to gather their feedback.
• Work with professionals. Lower hourly rates in most cases mean less experience and less knowledge.
• When it comes to evaluating branding or digital design, don’t trust your gut or your significant other. Or even your highly-professional team 🙂 Use market analytics; look at what your competitors do. Data-driven design is the key to success.