So you messed up?

This is not a feel-good story, in fact, it doesn't even have a happy ending. You're here because mistakes have been made, maybe your fault, maybe someone else's - honestly that too is irrelevant.

The Backstory

First, a little backstory. I woke up today to notifications that my product was "turning heads" on PH, good right? Actually, no. I had set the date weeks ago and completely forgot about it in classic CEO (Chief Everything Officer) fashion.

My launch was obviously a flop. No prior warm outreach, no announcements, no updated graphics/animations, just the text and images I had set as placeholders for the "big day" weeks ago😅. I laughed, it was truly funny.

It quickly dawned on me how irrelevant most things are in the startup world. We all have this idea that on launch day we'll see 1000s of customers clamoring and begging to use our shiny new toy. We imagine all the MRR we will rake in because that's what the Internet has sold to us. Everywhere we look, there's a 16 y/o dropout earning more than you did at your full-time job before you were compelled to quit by an IndieHacker who lives on a perpetual holiday in Southeast Asia. Survivorship bias. If you hate reading, I'd suggest this is the one thing you read about before the year ends.

Why you'll fail

You'll fail, not because you're not good enough, or your product sucks, no, you'll fail because most people do. Sadly, this platform itself has no incentive to share stories of failure because it would lose a lot of its audience. If this article got served to you, I'd be actually shocked.

So, what next?

Next, you try again, and again, and..yes, again. The only way to get better is to keep trying, keep learning, and keep improving. Remember when you didn't know how to walk? Yup, glad you didn't quit back then aren't ya!

In conclusion

Whether you mucked up your launch, or your product, lost your biggest client, users, revenue, etc. you'll be alright. I know this because a lot of people mess up, and statistically speaking, they are alright.