What's the hardest decision you've made during your product journey?
Vlad Zivkovic
42 replies
Hey Product Hunters, share the hardest decision you had to made on your product/startup journey!
Replies
Atik Hossain@atik_hossain
Launching soon!
Bootstrapping the mvp instead of approaching VC's
Share
Scrapping the things you though was great but didn't appeal or was misunderstood during product market test....
The hardest decision: when to end a product's journey. It's tough, given the time and love invested. But sometimes it's essential, for your health first!
I think the most difficult decision for a product is to abandon a hypothesis that you strongly believe in.
Once had to pivot the entire product direction. We were deep into development, had invested significant resources, but the market just wasn't responding. Tough call, but had to be made.
@randytaytay Pivots are good survival calls, it's hard to turn the ship in the other direction but if the markets ask for it, than it's a go!
Interested to hear your answer to this question as well, Vlad.
Mine? Deciding when the MVP is done and start getting first users. Because you always want to add more and more features before launching.
Choosing the right target market. 🎯
Deciding what is enough to include in a feature - is easy to go down a rabbit hole wanting to add more and more complexity. We have had to step back and discuss what is enough for MVP.
Exclude a module on which the team has worked hard...just because live date is nearing, and the module wasn't working in LIVE.
Released in version 2.0 though...still...initial release counted a lot.
@vladimir_zivkovic Indeed! Esp when it includes your team's efforts and time when they were excited to try something new for the first time.
I feel like every day is filled with very difficult decisions at this early stage of finding product market fit where there simply aren't enough resources (whether it's people or money) to go around. Every day there are choices about whether to spend time on a new feature, tech debt, marketing, sales, etc. Yesterday we spent a lot of time debating where to focus our energy in terms of goals and metrics.
I don't know if I can pick a single one, just yet. Maybe one will stand out soon!
@bedford_west my best advice to that last remark (you spent a lot of time debating..)run a design sprint with your team for a week if you’re experiencing decision paralysis
You are 100% right though, until you find product market fit life is pretty messy - it’s normal - if you haven’t already you should watch Michael Siebel from YC chat about Product Market fit.
Where are your customers telling you to spend time? Are you asking the right unbiased questions to determine that?
Sales/Marketing needs to occur but remember part of the equation is - ensuring your product is profitable so CAC should be monitored. You don’t want to scale negative margins
I have two:
1. Starting up full time at a very early stage without a fallback
2. [The harder one] To decide to wind up the startup when we realized we things are not working.
Scrapping the whole product and having to rebuild ðŸ˜. It was a tough road but it needed to be done and now we are sprinting in development.
Stick with one idea. There are too many thoughts in my head. Focusing on one direction has always felt like a sacrifice for everything else. So I constantly ask myself why this particular product is more important for me than anything else. And I'd better have a good answer for that.
@mary_rumyantzeva i love this! Before I work with founders I always give this as a HW assignment lol for them to answer - why is this particular problem worth solving? X what is your personal connection to the problem / what makes you uniquely equipped to solve it? (What edge/insight/expertise do you have over any competitors) I think doing this always helps founders feel more confident PLUS having a personal connection will keep you motivated in the many lows as you work towards product market fit!
I love a problem obsessed vs a product obsessed founder!
@ashleylivingagile, thank you! So well said! Love your points about obsession and personal connection!
hey bro, the hardest decision I've had to make in my product journey was choosing to remain focused on a single core feature instead of expanding into a suite of features.
the allure of building more is powerful - it seems like more features equate to more value. but there's a hidden risk of diluting the core value your product provides. each new feature adds complexity, potentially distancing users from the core problem you aim to solve.
the decision to remain laser-focused was tough because it felt like saying no to growth. but in reality, it's about committing to the right kind of growth. it's about deepening the value you deliver on a singular problem, rather than spreading your efforts across multiple fronts.
in my case, with NotesNudge, the focus has always been about making past notes accessible and meaningful, giving users daily reminders of their insights. there were temptations to branch out into note-taking, organization, sharing, etc. but at each juncture, we decided to stick to our main course, refining and perfecting it.
and it's not a decision you make once and forget. it's a continuous choice to stay disciplined, to sharpen your core offering, and to create real, deep value for your users. every 'no' to a new feature is a 'yes' to improving what you already have, to perfecting your core solution.
it's tough, but, it's about serving your users the best way you can. and often, that means doing one thing exceptionally well.
@shajedulkarim_ 100% you can add on later (like Amazon and hubspot etc) but starting with solving a problem really well is the move
@shajedulkarim_ Amazon started with just books - THEN turned into what it is now and expanded. Hubspot started small too THEN through customer feedback realized the biggest problem after building successfully is that their target market needed a all in one solution. It’s good to start focused!
Discontinuing a feature.
Deciding when to pivot was tough. Initially, I built a feature-packed solution, but customer feedback was lukewarm. Realizing I was solving the wrong problem stung, but in hindsight, pivoting was the right call.
Discontinuing a product that I proposed, only 1 month after launching. At the time of proposing it seemed an innovative idea, but the technology is not there yet.
Start getting first users and found the ideas I loved should be abandoned during the market testing..
Shutting down the app 90% built because of running out of cash. But then pivoted.