Three Ways I Sell A Product Before It's Ready.

One of the most common misconceptions about entrepreneurship is that successful founders possess some special certainty before they begin. We imagine that they knew exactly what customers wanted, exactly how the business would make money, exactly what product to build and exactly how it would be received. In reality, most businesses are built in the opposite direction. The founders who succeed are often not the ones with the most certainty but the ones who become comfortable operating without it. They understand that the market is a far better teacher than their own imagination and that the fastest route to clarity is not another strategy session, another spreadsheet, another deck, or another late-night conversation with friends. The fastest route to clarity is contact with reality.

I have become increasingly interested in the ways founders can learn from reality before they commit enormous amounts of time, money and emotional energy to an idea. This is particularly important for women, who are often socialised to over-prepare, over-research and over-deliver before asking for anything in return. I see this all the time inside The Stack World. A woman will spend six months (or even years) refining a logo, rewriting a website and perfecting a product concept before she has gathered a single piece of evidence that anyone actually wants what she is building. Meanwhile, another founder will put something imperfect into the world, collect feedback immediately, and make six months’ worth of progress in six weeks. The difference is rarely talent. It is usually a willingness to learn in public. Climbing cringe moutain, as we say.

So here's how to put something out into the world before it's ready.