Start Before the Gun Goes Off

It’s official. You’re in startup goddess mode and you will not sacrifice growth for a good night’s sleep. You know what it’s going to take – financially and emotionally – to build your business. And you know what you are giving up, and why, to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams. You are ready for the next challenge: going out on a limb when you are reasonably, but not 100% sure, you can deliver what you are selling.  

Somewhere between beta and a sure bet is the place to start selling your business idea. You must get comfortable introducing your product or service when the features, pricing and go-to-market strategy aren’t completely fleshed out. Expect discomfort, a constant higher heartbeat and flushed cheeks. It’s not pleasant, but it beats the alternative. If you take too long to introduce your idea, your work frenemy or most nimble competitor will surely elbow you out of the way and steal your dream without looking back.

Moving forward when there are still lots of “i”s to dot and “t”s to cross is a risk you simply must be willing to take in the entrepreneurial game. We know it’s not going to be easy for Type A perfectionists, just as it wasn’t easy for us. But like all our other rules, we will walk you through it step by step with the goal of taking your first product to the right early adopters so you can gain invaluable feedback to ensure your offering’s ultimate success.

Buckle up. And remember the Golden Rule – keep doing that one hard thing a day, and you will make it through Rule Four, one Female Maverick Must Do at a time.

Rule Four: The Female Maverick Must Dos

Step 1: Undercook your first product.

The idea of launching a product that's not fully baked makes you break out in a cold sweat. But trust us, it’s better than investing 100% of your capital to achieve (your version of) perfection and giving yourself only one shot to succeed. When you consider the reality that 95% percent of new products fail, it’s clear that you’re taking a huge risk if you don’t leave yourself some room (and money) to make tweaks down the road.

Step 2: Swipe right on the ideal target audience.

Surprisingly, the most common mistake when launching your product has less to do with the product or service and more to do with selling to the right buyers. Even if you have clearly defined a target audience, it’s still possible to fall into the "Everyone" Trap or to overlook the sub-segment of your market willing and able to become your critical early adopters.

Step 3: Don’t use your best clients as crash test dummies.

It’s really tempting to ask people you know to test your new product or service. But doing so often means putting invaluable relationships on the line, a significant gamble not worth taking at this point. Indeed, there are a whole bevy of reasons to save your besties for future opportunities and to find other more appropriate and less high-stakes potential customers to take your initial product or service for a spin.

Step 4: Prioritize pricing for right now, not forever.

Figure out what features are the most important to your customer, then work out how to deliver for the price they can pay. Of course, it’s challenging to create a financial model without some clue of what you are going to charge. But it’s okay to spin the roulette wheel in the beginning and to change up your bet until you find your winning pricing strategy.

Step 5: Keep calm and carry on (with customer feedback).

Entrepreneurs can be quite sensitive to feedback and criticism. We often either take it too seriously, or not seriously enough. Either approach can be costly and might even jeopardize the success of your new offering. It’s important to find the right balance and learn how to use feedback to your best advantage.

Step 6: Chase good enough, not perfection.

Accepting “good enough” is one of the hardest things about this rule for Type A perfectionists. After all, we become entrepreneurs to bring our better ideas and mousetraps to the world. Alas, there’s a time and place for perfection, but it’s not when we’re racing to get to market ahead of the competition. So, embrace the chance to be a B-student for once and move forward with a good offering that will get you to your next step.

What’s Next?

You’re on the brink of changing the world, or at least the corner of it you and your future customers occupy. It won’t be easy. But we’ll dive right in next week with your first lesson in imperfection and undercooking your first product. Before we sign off, let us leave you with this: Ever had Buffalo Wild Wings Mountain Dew Wings? Or New Coke? Yeah, we haven’t either, despite the millions that went into launching them. The highway is littered with smart (and well-funded) companies and products that don’t make it. Which is just one reason why it’s better to test early than to pursue unattainable perfection.