Mark Fletcher: Stealth Start-Ups Suck

wingedpig.com – Mark Fletcher’s Blog: Stealth Start-Ups Suck:

…Here’s the thing, stealth mode for a web start-up is the kiss of death.

Stealth mode is when a company is operating in secret for some length
of time before launching their product or service. In many industries,
creating a new product or service takes significant time and effort.
During this time, being in stealth mode may make a lot of sense. But
creating a new web service is not rocket science and does not take a
lot of time or money. My rule of thumb is that it should take no more than 3 months to go from conception to launch of a new web service. And that’s being generous. I’m speaking from experience here. I developed the first version of ONElist over a period of 3 months, and that was while working a full-time job. I developed the first version of Bloglines in 3 months. By myself. It can be done. And I suck at it! Just ask all the engineers who have had to deal with my code.

Why go fast? Many reasons:

• First mover advantage is important.
• There is no such thing as a unique idea. I guarantee that someone else has already thought of your wonderful web service, and is probably way ahead of you. Get over yourself.
• It forces you to focus on the key functionality of the site.
• Being perfect at launch is an impossible (and unnecessary and even probably detrimental) goal, so don’t bother trying to achieve it. Ship early, ship often.
• The sooner you get something out there, the sooner you’ll start getting feedback from users.