To Be Continuous: Using Continuous Delivery To Find Product/Market Fit

In this episode of To Be Continuous, Edith and Paul discuss the importance of validating your product or service before launching it to the market. They emphasize that validation is not just about building something people want, but also about having a clear distribution strategy in place from the very beginning. They share their experiences with various companies and how they have used different strategies for growth and success. The conversation begins with Edith mentioning feature flags as a way to validate product ideas without actually launching them. Paul agrees that this can be useful, but warns against using feature flags as a substitute for branching in your codebase. He emphasizes the importance of paying back any technical debt you may accumulate while validating your product. Edith then talks about how some people use LaunchDarkly to enforce licensing agreements by creating different versions of their product for each customer. While this can be effective, she cautions against creating too many one-off products that cannot be combined or maintained easily. Paul agrees and adds that sometimes it's necessary to build multiple implementations of a feature in order to get feedback from early adopters. However, he stresses the importance of pruning these features once they have served their purpose. The discussion then shifts towards distribution strategies and how they should be considered alongside product development efforts. Edith shares her experience with coaching musicians on their go-to-market strategy, emphasizing that even if you're just building something for yourself, it's important to think about how you will distribute it. Paul agrees and suggests that loving your distribution model is just as valuable as loving your product itself. He also points out the difference between B2B and consumer businesses in terms of their distribution strategies and revenue models. Towards the end of the episode, Edith and Paul talk about how venture capitalists have raised the bar for what constitutes a successful pre-seed round validation and traction. They discuss various ways to validate your product or service idea before seeking funding from investors. Overall, this episode provides valuable insights into the world of startups and entrepreneurship, highlighting the importance of validating your ideas through customer feedback and distribution strategies.