We’re certainly no experts having only shipped two small pieces of software in our short history, but watching the Apple “Special Event” yesterday reminded me of the importance of execution. I was reminded again as I saw these posts on the balance between new features and scaling your application:

“The CTO goes to the CEO and says “I told you so… we should have built this to scale” and the CEO goes “I wouldn’t have been able to get us all this press, the users, and the VC investment if we didn’t have those features!” Thus starts the problem.”

I do have some experience with the pressure of artificial deadlines, trade shows, press events, exec reviews, etc. And to me the problem doesn’t begin with the quote above but rather much earlier when the CEO and CTO decided to show features they knew they didn’t have time to implement properly. If you’re running a business that is truly going to go under if you don’t write a check you can’t cash feature-wise then you’re living so far on the edge you have other serious problems. I’ve been through countless situations where I was asked to write a check I knew we couldn’t cash, and I’m ashamed to say that there were several times I signed with enthusiasm.

I did however learn. It takes me awhile but eventually I figure out some of the basics. And the main lesson I learned is that slow and steady win the race. And if your backers keep pressuring you to stray from that philosophy then they’re endangering their investment. Apple’s event yesterday was a superb example of this philosophy. Would it have been nice to have all these new iPods launch at the same time as the iPhone? Yes. Was it possible? No. Apple ships new products on a heartbeat. There’s a rhythm to their announcements and you never go too many months without some set of exciting new products and offerings. Sometimes they’re big ripples, sometimes small, but the rhythm is there. Sometimes it feels like all the sexy stuff they show has always been there but I guarantee that if you looked at old iPods or versions of MacOS you’d be underwhelmed relative to what they have now. You forget quickly how far they’ve come. It’s clear from looking at the new Apple Products their design and technology have been pretty great, but without the consistent execution design and technology wouldn’t have nearly the same impact.

Startups are running marathons and I get the feeling that many of them are running them like sprints. You may pull ahead early but eventually you will run out of steam as the folks pacing themselves run by you.

I know that some people will argue that time-to-market can be a critical component in a company’s success. I won’t say that it has zero impact but I do think it’s way overvalued. Consistency and quality are much more important in the long run from my perspective, and as best I can tell in my limited experience, there aren’t any shortcuts.