Zero-G Creative

Beware the entrepreneur’s arch-nemesis

Aug 05 2009

If he were a Bond villain, they’d probably call him “Perfecto,” the criminal so devious, he would never make a move until he had everything arranged just right. Unfortunately though, Perfecto could never make it into any of the films; he’s always too busy tinkering to make a real move.

Perfectionism is a REAL problem for entrepreneurs, especially first-timers. We all want our business launch to be absolutely spectacular, we want it to be — well — perfect. The problem is that we’re willing to keep our business in the workshop, hidden from the eyes of the public, until that magical moment of perfection has finally arrived.

But who are we achieving perfection for? Our customers? Sadly, no. The longer you keep a project to yourself, the more time that passes before a real customer sees anything and the more time that passes before you can gather any meaningful feedback as a business owner. The truth is that when you keep a business on the shelf while you wait for them to be perfect, the only person you’re trying to please is yourself.

There is absolutely no shame in putting something out there before it’s completely ready for prime time. Google does it all the time, which is why so many of their apps and services come with the “BETA” mark next to the logo… Google wants you to enjoy their product while managing your expectation that it may still be buggy. It works in service businesses too; at Zero-G we took on beta clients before we even had a logo. When we did launch, we had valuable feedback and some important insight into what our customers wanted (and frankly, what their objections were).

We had technology entrepreneur David Eckoff on Gravity Free Radio last week and he had some great insights into the “perfectionism” issue that a lot of startups face. Listen here.

Published by Erik Wolf under Branding, Marketing Materials, Small Business, Strategy