Ship early and iterate beats perfecting before launch
Following Toyota's Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement rather than perfecting before launch. Success comes from staying in motion - continuous iteration and rapid pivots beat overthinking and perfect planning.
When to use
When tempted to perfect before shipping; when stuck in planning
Don't do this
Working on something for a year without launching
23 Founders Who Did This
Say yes first and figure out execution later to avoid overthinking
Don't wait for perfect knowledge - learn by building
Prioritize shipping velocity over engineering perfectionism when building solo
Action precedes inspiration—building generates more creative momentum than endless brainstorming
Speed over perfection - ship fast and iterate based on real feedback
Shipped AI support at 15% autonomous resolution, built escalation and auto-documentation loops for continuous learning
Used motion goals to force shipping within 1-2 weeks. For partner program, had 10 conversations with potential partners in first week using no slides, just conversations.
Advice: 'Don't spend months on launching, just launch with core feature and let user feedback guide product direction'
Shipped v1 in 2020 after learning in 2019, relaunched v2.0 in 2023 when codebase was unmaintainable, kept iterating based on user feedback
Launched after 1.5 years with only basic waitlist functionality. Got 10 downloads first week but iterated based on feedback. Added monetization 2 years later.
His previous landing page builder project failed because he overcomplicated it and burned out before launching—never shipped because he kept adding features
Built MVP in one month, launched quickly, iterated based on user feedback and metrics rather than perfecting before launch
Started with cringe emails and painful first partnerships that lost money, but treated each as learning opportunity. Early failures taught better outreach, negotiation, and partnership structuring
Built 6-day MVP and launched immediately instead of perfecting, iterated based on user feedback
Shipped MVP with simple features and bad quality in one month, then spent a year improving based on real usage. Emphasized 'you can't know what customers want without having customers'
Started making videos in 2018, admitted first videos were 'super bad', but kept shipping daily for 1-2 years to improve through iteration.
Advocates shipping imperfect products fast and iterating based on user feedback over 4 years
Founded TalkBin in December 2010, launched through YC Winter 2011, acquired by Google in April 2011. Iterated from complex checkout system to simple feedback platform through 'What is the simpler way of doing this?' approach
Describes his build process as 'pure chaos' - jump into code editor, ask ChatGPT how to build features, everything breaks constantly. Shipped early, iterated constantly.
Imposes a strict one-month maximum build time for any product. If no traction signals within a month, abandons the product and moves to the next experiment. Built ShipFast in one week
Built and shipped Reddit in three weeks during YC's first batch after pivoting from rejected idea
Builds and ships apps in 14 days using vibe coding methodology rather than perfecting before launch. Revenue-first mindset - every app designed to make money from day one
Built MVP in 3 weeks and launched immediately. Emphasized 'Stop building and doubting and start shipping. That's the only way you'll find out if people want your product.'