Since the last recap, we’ve spent most of the time on the coding side of things again, making a lot of progress on the work on the app. All features we’re working on are the most important core features, which we really need to launch the MVP. | The 80-Day Startup
Earlier this month we wrote about the importance of taking breaks so we can keep running these rollercoaster marathons, which is what running a startup is in many ways.| The 80-Day Startup
I pay hardly any attention to anything that can be considered the “tech du jour”. When it comes to tech I’m a late adopter (if not a laggard), and unapologetically so. Sometimes I miss out on really cool tech that works amazingly well, but most of the time new tech is a dead end. Either it doesn’t catch on, or it does but it doesn’t work well, and even then it’s likely to get displaced by the new hotness in just a few years.| The 80-Day Startup
Just like it’s easiest to come up with a product idea by solving your own problem, the best way of figuring out how it should work is by dogfooding, i.e. using your own product.| The 80-Day Startup
When you launch the first version of your product it’s likely to have serious flaws. If you want to discover what these flaws are you’ve got to figure out (a) what your users use your software for and (b) what changes you need to make to make them happier.| The 80-Day Startup
Sometimes you’ve thought a design over many times, made a bunch of sketches and think you have a clear idea about how everything works. But sketches and prototypes are very rough by design, so it’s easy to look at the same sketch in different ways, or discover some parts of the concept need more work when you start working on the nitty gritty details.| The 80-Day Startup
Imagine two startups. One startup makes a business chat app similar to Slack. The other startup has a business wiki product. In principle, these are very different apps that solve different problems. In practice, both apps face constant pressure from their customers to become more like the other.| The 80-Day Startup
Every product has a number of major “launch moments”. For example, announcing the availability of a beta version. Or launching the full version to the public. Everyone working on web apps will be familiar with launch days on Product Hunt, Hacker News, and so on. Whatever industry your product is in, there will always be a small number of large publications, events or sites you want to be mentioned on.| The 80-Day Startup
I’m back from my holiday! We went on a simple road trip from Eindhoven to Marseille, at the Mediterranean sea, with plenty of stops along the way. We enjoyed some good food, hiked in nature, did some sightseeing, read some books. Now I’m well rested and excited to get back to work.| The 80-Day Startup
We’re going to take a quick break and will be back with our daily updates on April 11th. In the meanwhile, you can find a preview of what we’re building at Thymer.com, or check out the list of all our posts or the recaps of the work so far. | The 80-Day Startup