Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think | Office Hours

**Harj Taggar** (0:00)
What's going on is that founders are just, they're embarrassed about the state of their own product. They've come from companies that have mature, polished products.

**Tom Blomfield** (0:08)
And they compare their launch to like an Apple launch. If Apple fumbles a launch, the world's media is going to write about it. But if some small startup fumbles a launch, no one cares.

**Gustav Alströmer** (0:16)
We don't actually remember all the failed launches, but there are many, there are many.

**Michael Seibel** (0:20)
If you don't launch, you're being an idiot.

**Gary Tan** (0:23)
If you're a first time founder, you're probably going to take way too long to launch. Today, we're sitting down with the YC Partners, who will talk about exactly that. What are you going to say to yourself that will lull you into that form of slow, slow, dark corner of startup death? And how do you escape it? Let's find out.

**SPEAKER_7** (0:57)
What are some of the reasons why people don't want to launch their companies sometimes, that we run across?

**SPEAKER_8** (1:01)
I think the first thing is that most founders, like when it's the first time, they don't know, like, it's so scary to get out in the world. Like, people are going to see them, you see? Like, as long as they have not launched, nobody knows about them. And what do you think?

**SPEAKER_7** (1:12)
Yeah, what are they scared of? What are some of the actual fears that we can't solve?

**SPEAKER_8** (1:15)
I think they're scared that nobody shows up. Nobody is actually like watch their video or go to their website or try their product. And that's kind of an existential risk for them. You know, if nobody shows up, if nobody tries their product, what have they been spending the last three, six, twelve months of their life on?

**SPEAKER_7** (1:34)
I think sometimes the implication then is if nobody shows up, I'm dumb. Or if nobody shows up, I'm wrong.

**SPEAKER_8** (1:41)
I think it's also liberating. Like, you know, until you've launched the first time, you're worried about launching. That's kind of scary. Once you've launched once, and then even if it doesn't go well, like, what's the worst case? Nobody sees you? Well, you launch again one week later. Everything's okay. And so I think that I saw that in a lot of founders, once they had launched, they were liberated to do actually other stuff, to learn from customers, of course, and then to improve their product and continue in the right direction versus trying to be optimal for their first launch so that they would do a big splash. So why is it bad to wait?

**SPEAKER_7** (2:19)
Well, great question. When you don't launch or when you wait too long to launch, you are missing out and delaying the actual learning that you could be having by having real people reacting to what you're doing.

**Gary Tan** (2:33)
It's natural to worry that no one will show up to the party when you launch. But if you find yourself over-rotating on that thought, remember the Airbnb story. Airbnb launched three times before anyone started to pay attention. But each time they launched, they learned something new, improved the product, and kept going. But what about some of the more dangerous myths that exist about launching? Here's Michael and Diana.

**Michael Seibel** (3:01)
When it comes to launching, I think it's one of the many topics where founders have what I call pop culture knowledge. It's like knowledge that is but widely believed. And like one of the most important pieces of pop culture knowledge is that your launch is important.

**Diana** (3:19)
And that you only get one.

**Michael Seibel** (3:21)
And that people will remember it. I think a secondary piece of pop culture knowledge is that if people try your product once and they don't like it, they'll never try it again. I love these moments because what I usually do with founders when they're nervous about launching is I go through a litany of products that they use every day, and I ask them if they ever remember the launch. Like, did you ever remember Uber's launch? Did you ever remember Doordash's launch? Did you ever remember Google's launch? And if launches are so important, wouldn't you know about the launches of the most important companies in the world? I think pop culture knowledge is so dangerous in general because it pervades us, it's literally seeping out of every information spouter, no one questions it.

**Diana** (4:02)
I think the other reason why founders are so precious about it, especially first-time founders, is that a lot of them might have worked at a big company.