Shiptalk
Why Shipping matters
February 15,2025
last update: 2025-02-15
Building a product goes something like this.
You find a problem | | You’re annoyed enough by it | | You decide you’ll bring an end to the problem | | You toil over the problem so that it gets solved for everyone | | It becomes a great product.
Finding a problem is easy enough, but finding the right problem is a trickster, there are tons of problems that are solvable but not yet solved becuase of unseen market forces. To pick a problem with conviction and nailing it down requires a ton of belief in oneself and ones ability to solve the problem
The trick about rolling your sleeves and going to solve the problem is that it is an incredibly sisyphean task with little in return at least in the short run. Before going into solving the problem, enough time needs to be spent understanding what the unknowns are, what your pain tolerance is and what you are willing to give up to solve this problem.
Its not only about the pain tolerance it is also about the amount of shit shoveling you need to do to get where you want to be.
the counter side of it is that, pushing for something with no end in sight is a real way to be masochistic and totally screw up your life.
It’s a balancing act of pain seeking activity as well as happiness seeking activity. Forget what you came here for and the pain becomes too much to bear. Keep seeking pain and watch your happiness washaway and you end up getting nothing done.
The pain is also part of what prevents you from preventing you to ship. because the first version of the product is going to be infinitely painful to create and ship.
I’ve pulled the plug on so many things after pushing for success so long. without ever shipping the product or the code. This becomes doubly difficult when you’re the only person with the vision and executing as well.
Within a company this is not a problem because there are checks and balances. Mentors and managers to keep everything on track and ship. Even in those organizations it is difficult to ship stuff all the time.
Endure the pain and go the last mile to actuallly ship the stuff. It is powerful to ship things. It is even more powerful to believe in the thing that you started.