Let It Go, Let it Fly
Week 27 of Founding Typogram
Hey everyone. Hope you are having a good week so far.
As I told you in the previous posts, I have been having a lot of mental blocks with the launch I am working on, especially when it comes to the product video. In On the Brink of Missing a Deadline, I have expressed that this is due to two reasons: first, the pressure of perfection. I feel like this video has to do Typogram justice and show that it is worthy of pre-order. Second, creating videos is not my area of expertise. To expedite the work process, I am opting to use a design prototyping tool that I have expertise in for video creation; however, it can still take a while for me to manifest the vision instead of my head.
Yes, I know in the end I should just bite the bullet and release the product out in the wild, but it's been so hard for me to just let it go.
I know I needed a little extra push, so I posted my struggle on Reddit. Reddit has always been a good place for me to get some additional feedback and advice. I was nervous about sharing this because it showed my insecurity about launching, but to my surprise, I actually received many supportive feedbacks and comments.
Here is one that I really stood out to me:
Man, I’ve done this.
For me, the underlying causes were anxiety, fear of failure/embarrassment, and a fixed mindset.
My fixed mindset told me that if the product failed, I was the failure. And you know how strong our egos are - we’ll do just about anything to avoid something that threatens our sense of self.
So, I had to shift my thinking - my project wasn’t ME; it was something I was working on, the same way I’m a work in progress. I’ll put something out and get feedback on it and use that feedback to continue to improve it, the same way I continue to improve my skills and understanding.
I’m never finished developing, and neither is my project. So I don’t have to worry about it not being well received bc that’s what’s needed to learn and grow. (Carol Dweck has a pretty good book on this.)
That was the underlying issue - how I was thinking about my project almost as my whole identity.
And that led to anxiety and fear of failure. I imagined all the ways the project could be misinterpreted, crash, burn, blow up, etc etc. And so I kept working on it.
But I never considered all the good that could come of it.
By at least giving pause to the doomsday ideas and letting them share the stage with some positive imaginings - people love it! They want 100000 more of it! A super investor wants to throw a cool $100M at it, whatever. It breaks that negative thought pattern and allows at least a little bit of a balance between both sides of the outcome. (Learned this from The Anxiety Toolkit).
Really what will likely happen is you’ll launch, and no one will really care. Some of us will upvote it, some will downvote, plenty will offer their opinions, and we’ll all go on with our days. You won’t die. Your ego might be a little bruised, but you’ll live, and you’ll make the project better.
Or you won’t, and you’ll move on to another project, but you’ll have made it through.
Just get it out there. Rip the band-aid off. It’s never going to be perfect. There’s always going to be critiques, but there’s also going to be support and positivity.
It feels good to know there are others out there in the same position. It feels especially good to hear personal experiences. I feel more clear and determined than ever to just launch this thing. Though it may not be 100% matched to the version inside my head yet, I'm ready to set it free and iterate.
So I have talked about the product video and I have been nervous about sharing it. For the first time ever, here is a quick sneak peek of it, cheers to the first steps of letting it go:
As for my plans for the launch: I'm planning for next Tuesday!
I plan to:
Post on Hacker News, IndieHackers, Reddit, and any suitable platforms for self promote
Launch on Product Hunt next Tuesday on March 29th, 2022.
Send a newsletter with links to everywhere that we posted! If we have earned it, please consider supporting us with your upvotes next Tuesday!
Stay tuned! Let me know if you have any awesome ideas for product launches! Would love to enrich our launch plans and platforms!
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