Having trouble putting a finish line on my MVP.
I'm about to release a Shopify app which I'm really excited about. The core features are all done and work perfectly, the app looks great and is fast and it solves store owners problems.
I have 3 people that have reached out to beta test it (as they saw a need for the app in their stores) which has been fantastic, but they will sometimes say "X feature would be extremely useful for my stores and I think others will need it as well" --- it's very difficult not to get started implementing that feature after hearing a comment like that!
My issue is that I keep overthinking what I need to implement for launch time. Everytime I open the app I notice some small detail that I have the urge to fix or improve on.
For example, I've written the "How It Works" and "Installation" documents about 3 times each (for most SaaS this isn't as important, on Shopify it's very necessary as a confused store owner will uninstall your app instantly for small details missing).
Anyone have some tips or suggestions for this stage? I want to release the best product I can, but it's so hard to draw the line right now for me.
Thanks!
Stop thinking and just get it out the door :-)
People will always be requesting features/pointing out bugs/suggesting improvements. It's also incredibly dangerous to be reacting to this kind of feedback and start building things right away because you'll be pulled in 100 different directions.
Create a spreadsheet and start logging feature requests with a tally and organise it by the most requested features.
Personally, I find that once you ship something even if it's a half-baked product – many of the mental obstacles around a new product simply dissolve and I have a lot more clarity around the product roadmap.
Valid! Last project I launched took me a solid month to hit 'publish' and launch on PH and such --- the last month I was basically spinning my tires not getting anything done (as there was 'so much for me to do')
Spreadsheet is started, appreciate the feedback!
Ship it Monday morning. Making small, unnecessary optimizations is the easiest way to delay a launch. Usually, these instincts are rooted in deeper psychological impediments like a fear of the launch going poorly, etc. We've all been there. Your product isn't going to be perfect nor should it be. You'll never know what improvements are truly worth your time if you don't have actual users showing you where to focus. A perfect example of this is the documentation loop you're describing. You won't be able to measure the effectiveness of your documentation until you have access to installation metrics on Shopify. Are users uninstalling after installation and if so how many?
Take the weekend to prepare and deploy it on Monday. Good luck!
Gah! A deadline!
Hahah. Sadly I have to wait for the Shopify team to finish their review process for it, but the goal is absolutely to send it off to them by Friday of next week.
After that it's a waiting game... App reviews take anywhere from 1-3 weeks so it will be a bit stressful I feel!
Appreciate the advice Victor.
Have a read about this person's experience:
https://wpcurve.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/
Especially about halfway down the page which includes a number of messages from customers who did not sign up to the author's service. E.g.,
My tip for launching an MVP: pick the one thing that makes your product/service unique. Launch whatever will help you validate that. Nothing else.
if the features have value (as then say) , that will pay for it (money, time or some other form)
just publish and sell those extremely usefull (for money or time) new features
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
Agreed. Instead of them telling you what features they'd like to have, it's probably better to find out from them if what you're providing solves a problem (and is something people will pay for in v1).
Get it out, see what people say, then grow your empire out of it :)
Hah, I guess I agree. The app feature set is currently untapped on Shopify so I think I'm a tad stressed that if my app doesn't have feature X, someone else is going to build an app with X and win out.
This is probably where it helps for me to do some reading about launches and such, the nerves are real!
I can imagine. A launch on a marketplace where you know it's going to be seen sounds scary. I'm comfortable launching websites, because I know that alone is just crickets :)
I've also seen a ton of advice that says if you're afraid to talk about your idea openly and think hiding it is the best option, you'll likely fail. But when you're sitting on the idea and it hasn't been done, it feels different.
Good luck, hope you can figure out a launch strategy that works for you!
Absolutely, I'm not afraid of talking about it openly but I am extremely familiar with the Shopify ecosystem so I have seen many apps come and go over the past few years.
One guy releases a "Sales Popup" app and suddenly there are 4 other apps doing the exact same thing with minute differences. This happened with the "Discount Wheel" feature last year, now there are so many (https://apps.shopify.com/search?q=wheel&button=) that all pop up for the exact same query.
I think in the case where I'm launching into a marketplace of niche customers a bit of secrecy is an advantage.... as opposed to my last product launch (a travel curated directory) where I told everyone about every little thing, advertised it everywhere even before launch, etc etc.
Cheers, appreciate it.
I agree, I guess I'm just caught up in the idea that if the customers all expect X feature and don't see it, I lose them.
I think I need to bring it down to a few actionable, really needed items that I can do within a time period (1 week or so) and then after that just launch and iterate from there.