When It Makes Sense to Release an Imperfect Product We share when you should get your product out there and start getting feedback.
By Rose Leadem
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Editor's Note: In the new podcast Masters of Scale, LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock partner Reid Hoffman explores his philosophy on how to scale a business -- and at Entrepreneur.com, entrepreneurs are responding with their own ideas and experiences in our hub. This week, we're discussing Hoffman's theory: if you're not embarrassed by your first product release, you released it too late.
As a startup, it's difficult to know when to put your product or service on the market -- and people have different views of timing. For Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and partner at VC firm Greylock, the earlier, the better.
Related: Why Mark Zuckerberg Runs 10,000 Facebook Versions a Day
"If you're not embarrassed by your first product release, you've released it too late," Hoffman, the host Masters of Scale, a podcast series in which he explores counterintuitive theories to growing a company, says in the fourth episode.
According to Hoffman, entrepreneurs should push out their products, get feedback and iterate.
But for Nicole Lapin, the New York Times best-selling author and co-host of Hatched, this doesn't always make sense. She says this approach is specific to the startup community, with a focus on tech companies. For bigger companies and consumer-facing ones, it may be better to go with the "you only get one chance to make a first impression" approach.
Related: Mark Zuckerberg Reveals the 5 Strategies That Helped Facebook Grow at an Insane Rate
Check out the video with Lapin and our editor-in-chief Jason Feifer discuss when products should be released, concerns raised about getting feedback and what other factors entrepreneurs need to consider when pushing a product to market.
