Annoyingly, I saw indie hackers pushing out products at lightning speed. I didn't like the products that they were releasing though. I thought they were never gonna be successful. Oftentimes the first replies on their initial launch were bug reports.
As I learned over the years, by not shipping, and not taking part in the game of finding users, I made the biggest mistake of all.
I started to push myself and release earlier and earlier. It was difficult. I was afraid of being blamed for a bad product. I was not happy with the product at all but I pushed anyway. I went from perfectionist to half-finishing products. First users started to take a look, and the problems and challenges were not what I thought they would be. I could start to learn and iterate with real users and feedback.
If I could turn back time I would do these 3 things and iterate way earlier.
1. Unlearn perfect icons and stick to ugly emojis. Every icon had to fit in shape and color with the other UI elements. I tried to use emojis if in doubt. It's not as nice as a well-designed icon, but better than not having an icon at all. Users were still coming and not complaining at all.
2. Unlearn free, don't even think about freemium, and set a price. For an unfinished product, I couldn't get myself to charge money for it. I tried to convert free users to paid users in the beginning. As it turns out, free users are a different breed. Set a price right away; this was the best filter that I could get. Serious users started to show up. They not only paid but also gave feedback, and I could iterate with them. Without money you can't grow and expand your business anyway. Free and freemium are only for the go-big-or-go-home mentality of huge funding rounds. There is nothing wrong with that, but I believe in profitable businesses from day 1.
3. Trust fellow shippers. I was not trusting the advice of builders, even ones with high MRRs. I thought for a long time that their products wouldn't succeed because I didn't find their designs and products perfect. As I learned by shipping quicker and less finished, it is easier to find user feedback. If you find advice from trusted builders whose revenue is proven, follow it. I was questioning it for too long; use their learnings as a base and grow with it. (You can find verified Stripe revenue on sites like Indie Hackers or TrustMRR.)
I'm sure many of us had to unlearn a lot too. What did you have to unlearn?