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  2. Is it better to ghost launch a product or build in the open?

Is it better to ghost launch a product or build in the open?

Ty Irvine
1 reply
I'm putting together a marketing plan for a product I'm building and I'm wondering what the best approach is. I understand that it's good to build in the open but it can leak your IP and give customers an impression of a product that doesn't actually exist. Plus it can kind of become stale in a way in someone's mind (or maybe I'm crazy). Ghost launching definitely secures the IP but significantly reduces reach. It also has the advantage of a clean slate and a solid foundation to build on, opposed to a potentially janky product history. Any thoughts?

Replies

Victor David
There seems to be a substantial movement towards building in public, and I can sort of understand the impetus, but I prefer to get things at least fairly concrete before putting the word out. I recently (as in 2 days ago) pre-launched (I guess that’s a thing) a service for people who want to make sure that vital info gets into the right hands in the event of their disappearance or death, lastlanding.com - I feel comfortable putting it out there because it’s almost ready for real users – and I would like to get a few beta users in the door first. I didn’t build in public, didn’t even consider it. It seems to me that that can be great between devs but a potential client not so much. I think that potential customers / clients would rather not wait -or at least not very long - once they’ve heard of something that appeals to them.
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