Cringeworthy

The first version always sucks

A friend of mine shared the iterations of her company’s logos since they launched a couple of years ago. The first one looked, well, homemade. The most recent version, however, looks very polished, unique, and cool. 

It reminded me of the famous Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, line:

“If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late…

This new world marginalizes the cost of second impressions, third impressions, and even tenth impressions.”

You get to take more than one shot. 

Let’s say your Dream Project is writing a memoir. Imagine this: It’s ten years from now and you’ve just published your third book. A reader reaches out to say, “I love your book. I dream of one day being able to write like this.”

Imagine replying, “So did I,” and then sharing your slightly embarrassing but totally brave first effort at a book. How buoying would that be for the almost-writer? How generous would that be?

Hoffman continues, quoting his friend and business writer Eric Ries:

“‘No matter how long you wait to release your first version, you will be embarrassed by it.’ In other words, even if you blow deadlines and exceed budgets in an obsessive effort to achieve perfection at launch, you're still going to be embarrassed by your first version anyway!”

It’s impossible to see the future. It’s impossible to know exactly what will resonate with people. And one day you are going to be a better creator than you are today because you cultivated a habit and committed to a practice.

Perfect is a myth. We’re building imperfect Dream Projects. But the creations matter and the stories of you making them matter and the practice of creating matters. The act of putting these projects into the world is generous. May we one day be lucky enough to be in the position that they make us cringe.

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