@Matt, Tao of Unfear – I agree when we’re talking about stuff that affects the general public. Products and services are a whooooole different ballgame in my eyes – esp when it comes to customer service. But for personal finances, done is usually better ;)

It really stresses the importance of a beta test/”market research” of some kind. Facebook likes to roll things out to the general population when they’re still very broken—things that could have been fixed by a beta test. Having used Facebook since it was open to universities only, I definitely recall plenty of times that I was unable to upload pictures, unable to update my profile, unable to navigate the site, had chat stop working in the middle of a conversation, had my privacy settings reverted during an upgrade, etc. Google, 9 times out of 10, is going to offer users the option to try a new interface or product before it’s rolled out to the general population. And have the option of reverting back if it doesn’t work. Meanwhile, Google gets feedback from users and bloggers (as well as the new products/features getting hyped by actual users), and are able to fix the most GLARING issues before the general population ever sees it. It’s a win-win. Power users, who can tolerate bugginess, get the bleeding edge—the general population gets a product that’s more refined when it’s ready for them.

I don’t think anyone disagrees with the “done is better than perfect” mantra—it’s a question of how that translates into attitude toward the customer. In my experience, companies whose “done” product results in a beta of some sort, produce much better products (Google and Blizzard are the two that pop to mind most readily). QA before the official launch is so important. There’s a huge backlash every time Facebook pushes a buggy update, but it survives because people are addicted to it, and it’s big enough to take the punches. If a startup were to behave like that…

What made Facebook big (simplicity, exclusivity, social connectivity) is wholly different from what keeps it big (pervasiveness, brand recognition, addiction). Yes, it’s foolish to wait for perfection, since it will never come—but it’s equally foolish to model a startup after the MO of an established company.

I guess what I’m saying is, let someone, anyone, look at it before you unleash it on the general population—if they have considerable issues with the current iteration, fix them before anyone else sees it. Real usability problems are going to lead to bad reviews, and nothing more.

Unless it is a cash flow thing then you should absolutely invest in a self hosted solution. It is SUPER easy and the sooner you do it the better. The longer you wait the harder and more costly (in terms of opportunity cost) it will be.

@John

Where do you work? What type of business?

@Brent
100% Correct!

@Crystal
Well it is time to get on top of it! As you start it just think about Evan…it will motivate you lol

@Kris
What are you currently working on?

@Marianne
That’s FANTASTIC! How are you starting your investment road?