Move steadily and don't break things

Think of some of your most used or favourite possessions. Just like your phone, laptop, or appliance, you want things you own to be high quality so they're reliable and long-lasting. This not only saves both time and money in the long run, it's also more enjoyable.

Whilst you may have made some compromises in quality to save money, ultimately everyone still prefers better quality products. Most people would only purchase high quality products if they could afford to do so.

The same principle applies for software. No one enjoys using a buggy, half-assed app. But everyone loves using apps which are pleasant to look at, use, and are useful. If you focus on building a product that's great quality, it has a much higher chance of being successful.

If you go on the app store, most apps are average or suck. There's so many which are mediocre. Many try and charge you for yet another subscription without providing enough value, or harassing you with ads just to use the free version.

Many of them have only a small amount of reviews, so they wouldn't be making much money. They blend in with all the other apps because they're mediocre.

If you look at the most successful apps, they're such a hit because they're better quality products. That's the main differentiating factor. Typically their design, user experience, and features are better. And people pay for that.

Gaming industry nightmares

It's the exact same thing for other products. Look at video games, for example. Everyone hates it when gaming monoliths like Bethesda release a broken game with false promises.

They may still profit from it because their marketing fools everyone, but it has destroyed their reputation and made their games suck. If they can make that much money just from shipping a half baked game, they'd profit so much more if it lived up to the marketing hype.

Fans used to love Blizzard's games when they focused on building a good game first and foremost. When they shifted management and did the opposite, everyone started hating them.

This attitude of "it takes as long as it takes" is one I wish more people would practice in their work. Time is required to build something amazing, it can't be rushed.

Whilst there may always be the need to make a profit, it won't be made through building a half-baked product. It will be made through hard work–not cutting corners.

The main reason Stardew Valley was so successful

Taking as long as it takes is the approach Eric Barone made. The reason Stardew Valley was so damn successful is because he was obsessed with making a good game above all else.

Take a look at this trailer for the original version of the game. Although it's an impressive feat beyond what most people would achieve, it's obviously nowhere near as polished as the final version.

He knew his game required je ne sais quoi, which he understood could only be attained through refining his game to a very high degree. It needed to match the vision he had in his mind, and he didn't stop working until it was perfect.

Stardew Valley wouldn't be the success it is today without Eric's relentless perfectionism. It's this obsession with making a good game that led to his success. Although he struggled with insecurities and believed his game sucked only days from launch, he clearly knew it was ready to be released. Because when he did, it was an instant success.

Be patient

Sure, doing things this way takes more work. However, it pays off dividends and significantly increases the odds of success, provided your product is definitely a good product/market fit.

Eric didn't know how to build a game in the beginning. He had to teach himself everything. That's the approach to take: keep refining your skills until your work is extremely good, because then your product will sell itself.

The fact it's harder is a good thing. It's a higher barrier for entry, and if you manage to build something high quality, it stands a better chance succeeding long-term. You want long-term, stable success, not a quick buck and an unsustainable business. Most things are mediocre, so if you build an excellent product there will be less competition.

Stop building a MVP

Many startups overlook the importance of quality. Everyone is always going on about the need to "stay lean", cut corners, and rush a MVP to validate your idea. There is a culture in startup land to "move fast and break things", but I think it'd be better to move steadily towards a goal in a sane way, and have a higher chance of succeeding.

If you have a team, if each person in a team works slowly and steadily on a goal, the team will achieve a significant amount in a short time. But if everyone is cutting corners, little to no quality progress will be made.

Cutting corners is a bad way to build a business. Unless you're a solo developer like Pieter Levels and are working on a simple product, this is a path to failure.

Doing so typically manifests as slow development, and anything that is achieved is often poor quality and a nightmare to maintain. This is especially true if you have a team, it becomes a disorganised mess.

Every time you make a change it can easily break existing code because it wasn't written properly, or because you have no tests to ensure everything works as expected. Many projects are complex with multiple people, and things will predictably break unless the code is solid and there's decent test coverage.

Not only is it an ineffective way to build software, it's stressful and unpleasant to work when there's so much chaos. It's difficult for anyone to get into flow state when the building collapses every time you try to lay a new brick.

Even if it's a solo project, I typically still prefer taking my time. It means everything is stable, and each thing you create builds on the previous step, without everything falling apart. You can be confident in your code and ship frequently with a CI/CD pipeline, knowing nothing breaks because you've got high test coverage. Whilst it might take longer to get started, it results in more progress in the long run.

Only hire skilled people

The other corner startups cut is hiring multiple unskilled developers, instead of one or a few highly skilled engineers. The result is development is delayed due to incompetence, the quality is poor, and the codebase becomes more unmaintainable.

If you're going to start a project and think you can't afford to hire skilled engineers, think again. There's only a few sane options:

1. Reduce the scope of the project so a senior can build a simpler (but passable) version of the product within a shorter, more affordable timeframe
2. Don't hire at all and save the money. It's better not to waste it and build a poor product that's low quality, because it will likely be unsuccessful, wasting both your money and time

Unfortunately many people have an idea, only to waste their money having it developed by unskilled, cheap talent, thinking this is the way to get into the market. Nothing of any value ends up being produced, and the money is essentially thrown away.

Most ideas have already been validated

The other problem is most ideas have already been done before, therefore you can often validate an idea without building a MVP. There are often similar profitable products you can look at to see if there's a decent chance of building a successful business.

However, if you look at those similar products which are successful, it's often because they're better quality. Yet most MVPs do not meet this mark, and that's one reason why so many startups fail.

Everyone is told to rush it and "fail fast", but as a result they often don't invest the time necessary to give the idea a good shot and make something that's actually good, which is required for it to have a solid chance of success.

If you believe in your idea enough to start a business, you also should've validated the idea sufficiently to take a risk. If you have, go all in. Invest the time and resources necessary to make it meet the standard of quality required for great success.

Don't crash

Many startups forget there's a minimum bar your app has to reach to be successful. There's many things you can't rush and overlook, otherwise you end up shooting yourself in the foot.

Whilst most products might not be an airplane where you'll be the next Boeing if something fucks up, a startup is still a fast moving vehicle. And if it crashes, it's not going to be fun.

Although it's unlikely, there's so many things that can go wrong people don't know about. For example, if you fail to build functionality that enables users to delete their account, under GDPR you can be fined up to €20 million, or 4% global annual turnover (whichever is greater). That's not something you want to mess up.

Not to mention security. This can't be rushed, and mistakes can easily be made when developers are under pressure to ship fast. You don't want your next big thing getting hacked.

The reality is anything that can happen will happen–especially at scale. The more users there, the more potential problems can arise. Unless you have taken the time to carefully build your application, bugs will ensue.

If you don't have much time or money

If you're genuinely short on time and resources and need to speed up development, cut the scope where possible for the first version. Whilst there's certain features you can't remove from your project to provide a complete experience, you can make the first version a simpler version with less features.

Those features need to be good, and there needs to be enough to provide a solid experience for the user. It also needs to be easy to maintain so you can develop new features, without being stalled by bugs and a nightmare codebase that requires rewriting.

Bad products which make money

Obviously some things suck but still make money. However, any business which sucks and still makes money typically does so because of marketing.

If your crappy product or service requires marketing to keep it afloat, it's only delivering perceived value instead of actual value. Without marketing it doesn't sell, which is unsustainable.

Not only is that a money drain, it's a sign the business isn't sustainable enough and has a lower chance of long-term success. There's also way more competition, since there's more shitty products than there are good ones.

Whereas a product that delivers genuine value is something people love. They will recommend it to others and keep coming back for more. It's a business that stands on its own and generates inbound marketing.

Ideally, you want your product to be so good it sells itself and becomes a productocracy, which is where your business stands on its own without requiring any outbound marketing and advertising.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the success of any product typically hinges on its quality. While many businesses rush to release MVPs and cut corners, this approach often leads to mediocre offerings that fail to stand out in a crowded market. High-quality products, on the other hand, differentiate themselves through superior design, user experience, and reliability, increasing the likelihood of long-term success and customer loyalty.

Though it may require more time and effort, focusing on building a polished product with genuine value creates a higher barrier for competitors and fosters organic growth through satisfied users. While marketing can help sell an average product, a great product can sell itself.

Ultimately, investing in quality from the start is a more sustainable path to success, positioning your product to thrive in the long run.