OKAYBETA #9 | Friends News: AI wrote this newsletter
🆕 Whats New
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.” is one of the mantras of product management.
This is also the concept behind Minimum Viable Products (MVP) and a solid piece of advice for anyone tending to over-conceptualizing things before actually making progress (and I like the short form of it even better: fuck it, ship it!). It's a philosophy of shipping early and often and encouraging a cycle of continuous improvement, rather than focusing on perfecting the "final" version of a product prior to release.
Critics call this phenomenon the Banana Principle. Because as with unripe bananas, the product matures at the customer's place. This can cause serious customer frustration as they have to wait for updates and "finishing" the product. A product that they have paid for. So it might not be the most sustainable approach to new customers. And I agree.
Don't get me wrong, I still believe in the main motivation behind MVPs:
build and test inexpensive, small things;
deploy them quickly into the market to get real feedback;
invest in them if they show potential, get rid of them if they don't
But I don’t like "shit-erating" with rough ideas. And after a decade of using the term MVP on an everyday basis I came across a better acronym: SLC.
Simple, Loveable, Complete. And this is what I am using now. The core motivation is the same as with MVP – but the words just resonate more with me and what it means to work agile.
The hardest part is to know when it's "complete". And this is where intent comes in: was the intent to design something complete or did you intentionally create something incomplete because "it's just a test" anyway?
This is probably the longest introduction I ever wrote before an excuse. Because I seriously wanted to share a small project I’ve been working on in the past weeks. But it doesn't feel ready yet – especially not in SLC-terms.
So today, you will get a preview screenshot and it will be (intentionally) complete before the holiday season! Promise! 🤞
SLI – simple, loveable, incomplete landing page of a small project
🚀 Marketing Nuggets
I'll feature some creative ideas and concepts in this section.
Marketing Formula
End of year is usually the time to create your next years marketing strategy. Here is a formula that makes it tangible and works as a solid foundation to build upon.12 Months Challenge
Scott DeLong is convinced that he can build a website with 20k$ that'll sell for 500k$ after one year – by only working on it for 2 hours a day. In his weekly updates he shares numbers and progress but didn't reveal the name of the website or the niche yet. Nevertheless, this works for me as inspiration to also just start more little projects.
🔥 Nice brands
Could be the design, the product, the copy, the people behind it – brands that inspire me.
😌 Dope stuff on the internet
Some of my favorite things since the last newsletter:
🎥 Video: Opening of MrBeast Burger in New Jersey
I share this for two reasons:I've never seen that many people in a shopping center.
Exceptional storytelling with ups and downs of a world-record setting opening day of a burger restaurant. Didn't want to watch it at first when I saw the 38min time stamp. But couldn't stop after I hit play.
📰 Article: What do executives do, anyway?
The core idea here that values are more important than strategy and what an impact that has on everything, is probably among the top three things I thought about since leading the content team in a small company.🎶 Music: Where I'm Meant to Be
Ezra Collective's album "Where I'm Meant to Be" is a joyous record that will have you grooving along from start to finish. The London-based band expertly blends elements of jazz, funk, hip-hop, and Afrobeat to create a sound that is fresh and unique. Standouts include the horn-driven "Reason in Disguise," the funky "Red Whine," and the anthemic "Quest for Coin." Whether you're a fan of jazz or not, you're sure to find something to love on this album.
I just want to add two personal things: 1. Runs on repeat while writing this newsletter. 2. Might work as a substitute for lame X-Mas playlists you're about to endure in the next weeks. Everyone will thank you! 🔥🎙 Random: Lex AI
My favorite tool of the past four weeks: Lex is a new word processor that has everything you expect from a Google docs-style editing experience. But – it also has AI built-in to help unlock your best writing. Whenever you're stuck writing you hit +++ and Lex finishes the sentence, summarizes articles, etc. The paragraphs above on the banana principle and Ezra Collective's album were written by Lex 🤷♂️ Here are a few invite links if you want to give it a try: #1, #2, #3
I'm still experimenting with the format of this newsletter. Let me know what you think. Replies go straight to my inbox and I love getting mail.