It’s been just over 3 months since I started building my first SaaS product.
The biggest mistake I’ve made is not setting deadlines.
I constantly surprise myself with how productive I can be when I’m working on a tight timeline.
Just this week I scripted and filmed an entire 10+ minute YouTube video + content for a sponsor in one day.
I was able to do this because I had to - I booked a last minute flight for the holiday and wouldn’t be able to film once I left.
When I started building my SaaS I expected to launch my MVP in a month or two without a problem.
Without a clear scope of work and launch date in mind, weeks quickly went by without much progress being made.
I’ve made more progress in the last 2 weeks than the 2 months before. This was for 2 reasons.
When you’re building a product it’s easy to give yourself another ‘couple of weeks’ to ‘polish things’.
The mindset shift I’m having is that the first version of your product should not be pretty.
If your MVP isn’t buggy you took too long to ship.
Mine doesn’t feel ready, but I don’t think it ever will.
For the last few weeks I’ve been dogfooding the product and am starting to see the value it can provide.
I showed the product to a friend for the first time yesterday and while there’s tons I want to improve, the potential is starting to show.
That’s all that matters for the first version.
I’ve been building in a black box, afraid of any negative feedback.
But if I ever want to be successful I have to be willing to take it.
Next Sunday, I’ll be opening up the beta for Creator Kiwi to the first group of users.
I have a feeling I’ll ship more in the next week than I have in 3 months.
If you or someone you know creates content on YouTube, I invite you to sign up - https://app.creatorkiwi.com/auth/signup
For everyone else, I hope you’ll find value in my journey. It’s only just beginning.
Have a great week.
Cole
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