Build half a product, not a half-ass product: Jason Fried, Basecamp

Jason Fried, Basecamp (and also Hey) cofounder in response to “What is the ideal product launch plan you suggest to young entrepreneurs?” question (as part of NextBigWhat AMA which happened in Oct 2019):


Launch plan: “Build half a product, not a half-ass product”. The tendency is to want to make version 1 AMAZING and include EVERYTHING, but that leads to super long projects and time frames which can be demoralizing. So we recommend ruthlessly editing down and picking the best half of your ideas. Start there for your first version. And then add more and improve once you’re released.

Think about this… The Apple Watch is 5 years old. 5 generations. And just yesterday they announced that the display will stay on all the time. People have been asking about this for years, and they finally did it 5 years later. You don’t have to do everything initially – you can build your way up after your initial release.