TLDR: Great products almost never work on the first try. They take three iterations — make it, fix it, fix the business. The iPod, the iPhone, the Nest Thermostat all followed the same path. The trick isn't being a genius on v1. It's hanging in there long enough to reach v3.
Tony Fadell said something on Lenny’s podcast last week that I have used as a reminder in several conversations already, so I can’t stop thinking about it — maybe it deserves to be repeated here as well:
"You make the product, then you fix the product, then you fix the business. Even the iPod took three generations before it became successful."
Here's the thing — this guy built the iPod, co-created the iPhone, and founded Nest. If anyone gets to claim first-try genius, it's him.
And he's telling you it took three generations. Every single time.
Generation 1 — Make it. You ship the thing. It exists. It mostly works. It's also rough, weird, and missing half of what people actually want. That's fine — the only job of v1 is to prove the idea isn't insane.
Generation 2 — Fix it. Now you know what's broken, because real people told you. You fix the product itself — the bugs, the friction, the stuff you were too close to see. This is where the thing starts feeling good.
Generation 3 — Fix the business. The product works… but the pricing is off. Or the distribution is wrong. Or the scale is small, and margins don't math. v3 is where you fix everything around the product so it can actually make money.
Make it. Fix it. Fix the business.
Most founders quit somewhere in Generation 1.
They ship v1, it's clunky, the numbers are bad — and they conclude the idea was wrong. Spoiler: the idea was probably fine. They just confused "first version" with "final version."
The iPhone we worship today? Not v1. The Nest everyone copies? Not v1. They're all v3-and-beyond products we pretend sprang fully formed from a keynote.
You're not failing. You're on Generation 1. That's exactly where you're supposed to be
Stop judging your product by its first version. Judge the trajectory.
Budget for three iterations from day one — time, money, and patience.
Separate the three problems. A v1 product problem is not a v3 business problem. Don't fix pricing when the thing doesn't work yet.
Consider this - maybe the builders who win aren't smarter. They just refuse to bail early
Hang in there.
Let's BUILD BETTER 💪
— BFG