The threshold for acceptability. “I still think it’s terrible”
Posted: December 10th, 2012 | Author: tim.soo | Filed under: All, Meddik, Startups | No Comments »One thing I constantly have to tell myself, or unfortunately learn directly from error, is that I can’t do it all. Recently, I came across an article on Larry Page about how he came to run Google. One particular quote that struck with me was this: ”You may think using Google’s great, but I still think it’s terrible.”
I laughed when reading this. At Meddik, we’ve been heads down working on a new product iteration for the last eight weeks, and regardless of what people have said, I still often tell people that “it’s a piece of crap.” Trouble is, I’m not saying that under some faux-humility. I actually think it’s awful.
However, as my co-founder likes to remind me, thinking it’s terrible is fine, as long as you have a threshold of acceptability — that is, the point where you’d be willing to release the product. For me, that point is answered by a simple question: would you use it? I honestly believe that as a founder, you have to want to use your own product, or else, how can you hope to earnestly promote it?
