Hey Reader,
A founder told me recently he likes to be 90% happy with something before he ships it.
I told him that's the fastest way to waste two months on something the market doesn't want.
I aim for 70%.
Here's the math most people refuse to do:
Expect roughly 70% of what you launch to fail or require a hard pivot. Not because you're bad at this – because that's the baseline reality of building something new. Competition, timing, messaging, market fit – too many variables outside your control.
So what happens when you wait until 90% to ship?
You spend extra weeks polishing a product nobody's validated
You burn runway on refinement instead of research
You get feedback 60 days later than you needed it
And when the market tells you to pivot, you've optimized the wrong thing beautifully
The fix isn't more polish. The fix is faster feedback.
At 70%, you have enough to learn. The remaining 30% should be informed by the market, not invented in isolation. If it doesn't sell, that last 20% of development won't save it. A full pivot might.
The Clarity Filter Insight
Speed to feedback is your only real competitive advantage – stop burning it on polish.[Share on LinkedIn] [Share on X]
If you're sitting on something that's "almost ready," ask yourself what you're actually waiting for. A perfect version of something untested is still untested. Ship the 70%, get the reply, then decide what the next 30% should even be.
Speak soon, — Dmitry
P.S. Don't write code for a product nobody wants to buy. I built Traction OS to give you the exact 60-day roadmap, sales scripts, and validation templates you need to hit your first $10k MRR without guessing. From complete scratch or with an existing MVP.