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Building MVPs 3 months ago

Ship the embarrassing version. Then ship again.

by Liam O'Connor

Both my SaaS products were embarrassing at launch. Both found their first users anyway, because the users cared about the problem, not the polish. Building in public forced me to ship weekly and the feedback was worth more than any roadmap I'd have written alone. If you're a founder lurking here: post your ugly v1, link your startup, and let the community back you. Momentum compounds; perfectionism doesn't.

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Comments

Emma Thompson 3 months ago

The weekly-ship cadence changed my company more than any single feature.

Carlos Mendes 2 months ago

Needed this today. Closing the tab and shipping the embarrassing version.

Carlos Mendes 1 month ago

Shipped a portfolio tool with a hardcoded user list and a TODO visible in the footer. First real user emailed me the TODO back with fixes. Embarrassment is a feature: it invites people to help you build.

Yuki Tanaka 1 month ago

Counterpoint from a scar: "embarrassing" works for tools, but for anything holding people's money or health data, the embarrassing version torches trust you never get back. Know which category you're in before you ship the duct tape.

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