It’s simple.  Building a product with less time developing the product, and more time building the business around the product (marketing, etc.,), the greater chance it will have of actually succeeding.

I recently read that a product is 80% marketing and 20% actual product.  That probably would explain why garbage can succeed and great software can fail.

The truth is as developers, startup entrepreneurs, it’s critical to know how to sell and market.  Without learning the ability to have the conversation to sell, there may not be much of a reason to start building anything.

Often, as is the case, we put off the unfamiliar and get working on the familiar, “to make some good progress”.

This often means programming.  Start building.  Get out the measuring tape.  That carpenter’s pencil, the wood glue.  Get to it.

Here’s the thing:

Just because I can build a shed without a blueprint, doesn’t mean I should build a house without a blueprint.  Especially if I don’t know how to sell the house, or build a sellable house.

Building without the plan is in essence hurting your hard work even more, and delaying your potential success.  The sooner you start your conversation, start your story, and get potential customers engaged and involved in a beta, the greater you have increased your risk.

Instead, learn to start the conversation first. Learn to spread the news first.  Learn to attract the traffic and input you need, first.

We know you can build anything, at the speed of light.  But those 6-12 months will still mean you did no marketing at that time.  There’s little more helpful than having a mailing list already built up of potential customers as well as some google ranking love for your product already.

If you’re still not sold on it, try this law:

Less code = fewer bugs = quicker release = quicker iteration = quicker profitability