Mentor Wisdom: "If you're not embarrassed by your first product, you launched too late." — Reid Hoffman
Mentor Lesson: Version one beats version none
Most people spend months polishing their product until it sparkles like a diamond in a jewelry store window. Meanwhile, their competitor just shipped something that looks like it was built in a garage and is already making money.
Reid Hoffman knew this trap well.
The LinkedIn founder watched countless brilliant entrepreneurs get stuck in endless refinement loops while opportunities slipped away.
His advice cuts through the perfectionist paralysis that kills more businesses than bad ideas ever could.
Think about it like learning to ride a bike.
You could spend years studying balance theory and watching YouTube tutorials about proper pedaling techniques. Or you could hop on, wobble around embarrassingly for a few minutes, and actually start riding.
The second approach gets you places faster.
The magic happens when you launch something imperfect into the real world.
Real customers give you feedback that no focus group or internal meeting ever could. They tell you what actually matters versus what you think matters. They show you problems you never saw coming and opportunities you never imagined.
Every day you spend adding another feature or fixing another tiny flaw is another day your competitor is out there learning from real users.
They're getting smarter while you're getting more attached to ideas that might be completely wrong.
The entrepreneurs who win are the ones comfortable looking foolish at first.
They know that version two will be better than version one, and version three will blow them both away. But none of those versions exist without shipping that embarrassing first attempt.
Your business doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to be real.
As promised, wisdom in under a minute.
Talk soon,
-Chris
P.S. If you liked this, then you’ll want to read The Hustle too.