How can I get possible customers?

How can I get early exposure to customers without blowing it?

• One lean startup mantra is "continuous launch." The idea is to let customer reaction drive product development, because 1) that eliminates the waste of time and effort that goes into developing what they don't want, and 2) customer actions in response to the product itself are the only way to gather valid data about what they really want. Our experience is that real entrepreneurs hate this advice.  They usually argue against following it on three slightly different grounds: I've only got one chance to make a first impression. I've got a hypothesis about what will work for my customers, supported by what I consider to be sufficient evidence. If I launch and the thing doesn't work, or crashes their computer, the Internet will be buzzing with how lousy my product is.  My company will get a bad reputation, we won't be able to get good press later, future customers will have to take a leap of faith that we've improved, on top of the leap of faith they're already taking, just to try a new product.  They won't do it, and we'll be screwed. I don't control my channel partners; it's a big win just to convince them to let me play in their market.  They will not give me access to their customers, and will not invest in testing themselves.  I've got to rely on indirect evidence, and I’ve got to make my product as bulletproof and fully featured as resources allow to give it the best chance of succeeding My product has a set of features that work together to create value for the customer.  If Steve Jobs had launched the iPod without iTunes, it would have been just another mp3 player.  I've got to build out all the important aspects of my product before I can do any testing that will yield relevant results. In short, early exposure can erode brand value and yield misleading data about the market.  Taking these fears seriously, the question becomes, how do you eliminate development waste and gather good data while avoiding these pitfalls?

• Answer:

  Ask yourself what your product simply cannot do without. What is its necessary condition (i.e. in Apple, iTunes was their must--it was a major product point). You've got excellent knowledge here and legitimate concerns. Here's the kicker: If you're waiting for perfection, somebody will beat you to it. The transparency these days allows you to make mistakes as long as your up front about it. I just saw the Starbucks App in Itunes say "IOS5 Version will crash, wait for the update!" If it's an epic fail the first time, acknowledge and fix. The best thing you can do is have people you know try it out. If for some unknown reason you can't get people you know to beta test, put it on the market. Those people will be your focus group whether they like it or not. And YOU will be on top of their feedback (right?) to make any necessary corrections immediately. You can do it, launch if the product has the basics you want.