How much time did you spend building your product/s before launching it for the first time?
I was just curious regarding this. I think it'd help me not spend too much time agonizing about the small details and just launch instead.
I was just curious regarding this. I think it'd help me not spend too much time agonizing about the small details and just launch instead.
As little as possible. And that's what you should do as well. If you can think of an MVP to build for your product in a weekend, that's great! A week? (so-so). A month to 6 months? Probably not really an MVP and not really worth it.
The MVP can also be something that's not software. You can duct tape No-Code products today like never before and get a product out in days before ever needing to code something.
What's your product idea? Maybe we can all help you think of a low-scope MVP
While I agree the focus should be on minimal effort, sometimes a product for a specific niche simply requires some investment before you have a workable MVP. That said, landing pages, mockups and interviews with prospective buyers can go a long way to validate an idea in place of an MVP, while it's being developed.
I'm building a social media app. I've learnt web development from scratch by building and iterating on it for 5 months now.
However, everyday I still find something new to fix/add and it's very hard to not do it. For example, I'm learning OAuth 2.0 right now to integrate it into my app.
Facebook doesn’t allow you to log in with Google. Keep that in mind. You should start reaching out and finding users to test your product. Start by reaching out on IH and Reddit and maybe even plan to launch on Product Hunt
After you are done with all these, think about SEO since it’s a good approach to get started as soon as possible to get a return down the road. Check this intro article on how to get started
To get to Alpha, I spent approximately 1-2 months on design/UX iterations, and then another 2 months to develop it. This got me a minimum "workable" product into the hands of customers... since then, I've gathered feedback, iterated, and made some improvements. I personally don't like rushing to launch... I personally believe in first impressions and if it's not "workable", people won't stick around.
600 hours for https://browsegenres.com/about (lets you discover artists by revealing their genres and browse them, using spotify api).
Includes research, thinking, and again thinking, ux, drawing wireframes, front-/backend, everything, no marketing, just building it.
But to be fair (1), it's my first project, so an experienced developer would have needed a third to build it I guess.
But to be fair (2), a lot of effort / time gets into research and ux which is I think a big part of programming already as pretty much all decisions are made on this early level. A more experienced programmer would probably build it in a week but only if you give him the blueprint (architecture). I think this is a tiny information / detail that a lot of developers don't mention.
I saw your comment on my previous post too!
I'm building a product for the first time too and I understand the struggle. It's take me quite a bit of time to build mine out (100+ hours) for something relatively simple (a basic CRUD app).
However you are absolutely right, that an experienced developer would find it much easier to build it out. If I had to do over again, I think I could build out my app in <30 hours.
Same here, my app is actually just basic CRUD operations + api connection. And in my case, kudos to the Spotify devs for writing it very clearly (I also had a quick look to amazon and youtube api, just curious, and I guess it would take me much longer to get it, especially amazon).
Yes, we might need double, triple the time an experienced dev needs but that's just normal since developing IS a complex topic. E.g., it took me while to get this object orientation thing and I still don't have it completely, but again, that's just normal. To me it's like learning a new language (which in fact is) or learning an instrument. I've been playing drums and guitar for years so I knew before what it means to sit down, practice and handle the ongoing frustration. And, what I learned, if you fight for hours and your result are 4 lines of code that work; and if are not happy afterwards, then it simply means programming isn't for you.
I have a full-time job and usually can work on my project 2-3 hours a day (usually 8pm - 10/11 pm). But again, that's not the problem and here's the connection to the instrument again: you get better by constantly doing it. At least I can speak for instruments, you can't skip the week and do a 6-hour-session on a Saturday, it won't work since playing an instrument means training the parts of your brain that are responsible for the motor execution. And that just needs time and concentration. If you are not used to play it for 1-2 hours, it just doesn't make sense to do a session that lasts 6 hours, your brain isn't ready for it.
So, the way I handle my 2-hour-slots: After each session I want the feeling to having achieved something. So, no matter what it is, I try to cut it in small eatable chunks of 30 - 60 minutes. And, I'm a fan of handwritten to-do-lists because I like this moment when you can cross out something and mark it as done. That's how I keep myself motivated.
I started to develop the Personality Reveal in october, went into beta in november and launched in december. It's a side project, so I only worked a few hours in the evening.
We're planning to launch our free stock trading app in Q1 2021... but it took some time to get here.
In September, we brought on 3 employees - marketing director, operations officer, and a creative lead for UX + UI design. Here's the process:
## September:
## October:
## November:
Going into December, we're sending the high-fidelity prototype and master files to the development team. NOTE: We're building on top of existing infrastructure (v2.0), but this refinement is an entire overhaul of UI elements, CX flow, and has had deep UX research built into this.
## Results:
We'll post more results in the future. Follow if you'd like? Up to you, stay safe everyone
I did it all wrong, but launched after 4 months, took payment after 9. If I had to do it again, would have launched in 3 months and charged at the same time. However, if I was in a competitive niche, that would change things.
As has been said many many times, technical folks tend to agonize over things and customers just want something that solves their problems.
I built the MVP of Coffee Chats over a weekend and launched it on LinkedIn on Monday. By MVP, I mean it only allowed you to book time with me, but it was enough to validate the idea that 1) people wanted advice and 2) people would book time on someone's calendar for a video chat if it was easy.
Then, it probably took another month or two before it was in a good enough place for others to make their own sites and start charging people.
when i see is sort of usable, I put it out.
I launched 2 products so far:
I'm in a challenge to build (and ship) 6 products in 6 months, so I try to keep the build below 2 weeks to have enough time for the marketing (and the other products)
How I used to do things
I used to come up with an idea in a vacuum. and then spend a few months building before launching. It usually took me about 2-3 months to build. web apps were on the shorter side, iOS apps on the longer side
How I do things now
But then I took a different approach. I started with customer interviews and trying to do presales. The first thing I built only took 8 hours because it was a SaaS that I only used to do sales demos. It only ran on my computer and didn't have login or signup or users anything, just the core functionality so that I could show it off over zoom or record my screen and email people a pre-recorded demo.
Try and orient around a hypothesis you want answered and build just enough to answer that hypothesis. One thing I always think about is "will people even get to this point?" I've build full blown apps before with fancy customized landing pages only to realize that no one signs up. So... I could have just build the landing page and saved a ton of time. That's an extreme example but it illustrates the point well.
I certainly know this feeling, especially when it comes to design.
I always tell myself "Done is better than perfect". Most people won't notice the small details and it's much better to get something out of the door sooner to start learning.
For my recent project, uxgigs.co, it took me about 7 days to go from problem to MVP. That included design and build. I had set myself the challenge to launch by a set date, so I had to really limit the scope and worry about the small details after launch.
I spent 2 hours a day for 2 months working on Flurly. I think it all depends. Over my career, I've spent longer and longer before launch. I'm not sure what that says about me, maybe my projects are becoming more polished? Or perhaps I'm just getting slower =D.
That's very interesting to hear. I would have thought the opposite would happen as one becomes more proficient with programming.
For example, I've spent close to 3 months (approx 120-130 hrs) building a very basic CRUD app, but I'm sure that if I had to do it over again, it'd take me much less time.
Thinking a bit more, I think it's the subtle things that take more time. A few examples that come to mind.
Perhaps you could say I've just become that slow, annoying, old-timer that has "preferences". But I like to think that these changes do help make a better product and make users happier
I would say it depends on the idea/product. Some products require less to solve an initial problem and others need more work to provide that first value prop.
I think it took about 3 months to get my product https://forexbook.com online. It required me to setup automation between a trading platform and my product, build usable features based on this and then create the landing page which was ofcourse the easiest part compared to everything else. I admit, I spent fair amount of time over-doing some things that shouldn't have been that "perfect". Things that are not directly related to features that provide the value, spend as little time on them as possible.
I believe the "what is a suitable MVP?" has evolved over time and requires the product not just provide the initial feature set but also attract the users by providing a better design and UX as the standard of what a product should look like has gone up.
Also, you get much more value from your initial marketing efforts when the product somewhat meets the standards. You need the feedback but you also have to feed something to the users that is likeable. Spend a bit more time on the product and receive more feedback. With more feedback you have better overview what to prioritize next.
I have the same problem. For my recent project, qlo.morflax.com, it took me about 2 weeks to fully develop a 3D web app. 2 weeks for bugs and 3D models improvements, and about 1 month for landing page, visual communication, design improvements, and all small shit.
I haven’t launched it yet, but I plan to do it next week. Small unnecessary details took too long. I will try to release the next project as soon as possible.
Out of curiosity, what is the target audience for your product?
My target is clothing/streetwear brands.
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