When to Launch Your Startup and When to Wait

TL;DR

Founders delay launch because they imagine a perfect, Oscar-like debut and fear negative reactions, but early and repeated launches with scrappy products (e.g., Instacart’s manual delivery, Brex’s no-UI card, Magic’s two-day text service) are the norm for successful startups.

Key insights

• Founders often lie to themselves, thinking they are the exception to the "launch early" advice even though they know it’s correct.
• Many founders hold a mental image of a launch as a single, glamorous event (like the Oscars) and try to perfect everything before showing it, but reality is that no one cares—launches are repeated, un
• A waitlist is not a launch; it’s just a form and provides no product feedback.