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When do you know your product is ready to launch? Should it be bug free and thoroughly tested?
We've had a few launches so far, and honestly, most of the time, I felt the product was too early. First few days? Super stressful, lots of bugs and issues to solve. But we moved fast, smashed bugs, and found that users were surprisingly forgiving—more excited about our pace of iteration than perfection.
Now, as we grow and reach a bigger audience, I find myself questioning:
How polished should a product be before launch? Do we hold back, refine every edge case, and aim for "perfect"? (But what even is perfect?)
Or do we launch fast, brace for impact, fix as we go, and let real users shape what matters most?
Curious how others think about this. What’s your approach?
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Feliciana
It's a classic dilemma: launch early or wait for perfection. For me, launching early can give an edge even if the product isn't perfect in competitive market. Polishing every edge case may be time-consuming and costly. Besides, I believe no product is ever truly perfect, waiting for perfection may stall progress. So, I would aim for "good enough" instead of "perfect", and allow ourselves to leave a room for growth. But at the same time, it's important to clearly and timely communicate with users about commitment for improvement.
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Perfection is a mirage—chase it too long, and you might never launch. The real question isn’t “Is it bug-free?” but “Is it valuable enough that people will tolerate the rough edges?”
Early users don’t expect perfection—they expect progress. Some of the biggest successes (Twitter, Airbnb, even iPhones) launched with glaring flaws, but they moved fast, listened, and iterated. If your product solves a real pain point and you can fix issues quickly, launch.
Think of it this way: would you rather release something 80% ready and learn what truly matters, or spend months refining things no one cares about? Your first users aren’t just testers—they’re co-creators.
So, launch when:
✅ Your core value prop works.
✅ Early users want to use it despite imperfections.
✅ You have a feedback loop to improve fast.
After all, what’s scarier: launching too early or never launching at all? 🚀
Launching soon!
Based on my experience with using and launching many products, I believe that launching quickly and iterating fast is the way nowadays. This is what we call the agile approach. It helps us quickly understand what users really want and ensures we stay on the right path. Of course, the core functionality needs to work well. But trying to perfect everything can delay the launch to the point where it might never happen. So, it’s better to make progress and fix things along the way, even if it's a little early.
Launching a product is always a series of launches. First, we create a conditionally functional version for a bodystorming test. Then, we present the product to investors and open access for early bird users. A successful launch on Product Hunt brings in many users, but they are often not the target audience and tend to be quite loyal. Marketing campaigns and other promotion strategies aimed at the target audience require the highest level of responsibility.
In the early stages, finding bugs is actually a good thing, and the main priority is speed. However, in the final stages, the product should undergo professional testing, and the core scenarios must work as smoothly as possible.
