Dev.to

You Don't Need Permission to Ship

You're probably waiting for something. Maybe you're not even sure what. Just… something. A sign. A signal. A moment that finally makes you feel like, "Okay. Now it's ready." But that moment never comes. So you wait. You tweak. You adjust margins. You rewrite the copy. You rethink the whole idea. And the longer you wait, the harder it gets. The Myth of the Perfect Launch We've all bought into this fantasy. That you'll launch one day and everyone will clap. Your product will be polished. The UI will be clean. You'll have a clever tweet thread lined up and a few retweets from your startup heroes. But most real launches? They're quiet. Uneventful. Sometimes a little broken. When I launched UserJot, a bunch of people couldn't even log in. There were edge cases in the OAuth flow I hadn't handled. I remember waking up to DMs like: "Hey, I'm stuck on the sign-in page." And yeah, that sucked. But that's software. You find the bugs. You fix them. You move forward. Nothing is perfect. Every product has issues. That's not a sign of failure it's a sign that you've started. The Real Reason You're Not Shipping Let's be honest. It's not because you're still "working on it." It's not because you "just need to fix this one thing." It's ego. You're afraid someone will find an issue and call it out. You're afraid of building something and it going nowhere. You're afraid of trying and it not working. But that fear? That's what's holding you back. You're protecting your image, not building your product. And ironically, the longer you wait to ship, the worse it gets. The more time you spend, the more pressure you put on it. You stop building and start polishing. You're not improving you're just trying to make it "bulletproof." It never is. You Think You Need Permission From your friends. From the community. From some invisible jury in your head. But no one's going to tap you on the shoulder and say, "Hey. You're ready now. It's safe to launch." That moment doesn't exist. Most people who build great things didn't wait. They didn't feel ready either. They just got tired of waiting. They launched small. They launched messy. And they figured it out as they went. Ship Small. Ship Messy. Just Ship. You don't need a landing page. You don't need a marketing plan. You don't need a dashboard, or analytics, or even a real logo. You just need to ship. Start small. Let it be a rough draft. Let it break. Let it embarrass you a little. That's fine. In fact that's where momentum begins. Shipping Is What Teaches You You don't really understand your own product until someone else uses it. Until they break it. Misuse it. Misunderstand it. That's when you learn what matters. Not when you're sitting alone staring at your roadmap. Not when you're endlessly refining the design. When it's out in the world. When you're uncomfortable but finally moving. What Helped Me Let Go In the past, I made the classic mistake. I'd spend months working on a product in isolation trying to perfect every detail. I thought if I made it "ready for scale" from the start, I could skip the pain later. But all I really did was delay learning. I kept polishing something no one had even used yet. That approach nearly burned me out. So I changed how I work. With UserJot, I shipped early. Way earlier than I would've before. It had bugs. Missing pieces. Awkward flows. But it was out there. And that made all the difference. Because once it's real, you can get better. You can talk to users. You can see what matters. You can grow. UserJot exists today because I stopped waiting. Because I stopped trying to get it right and just got it real. You Don't Need Permission Anymore If you've been waiting this is it. This is your permission. Not from some VC, or Twitter thread, or tech influencer. From someone who's been in your exact spot. No one is going to give you the green light. So give it to yourself. Ship something small. Let people use it. Let it break. Let it sting. Then fix it. Improve it. Move. That's how you build momentum. That's how you grow. That's how you win. If you need a place to start, create a feedback board on UserJot. Write your first post even if it's just for yourself. Even if nobody sees it. Just start. You don't need permission for that. If you're building something and looking for a way to collect feedback, share progress, and improve as you go, UserJot gives you a simple feedback board you can set up in minutes.

Apr 22, 2025 - 20:06

You're probably waiting for something.
Maybe you're not even sure what. Just… something.

A sign. A signal. A moment that finally makes you feel like,
"Okay. Now it's ready."

But that moment never comes.

So you wait. You tweak. You adjust margins. You rewrite the copy. You rethink the whole idea.

And the longer you wait, the harder it gets.

The Myth of the Perfect Launch

We've all bought into this fantasy.
That you'll launch one day and everyone will clap.
Your product will be polished. The UI will be clean. You'll have a clever tweet thread lined up and a few retweets from your startup heroes.

But most real launches?
They're quiet. Uneventful. Sometimes a little broken.

When I launched UserJot, a bunch of people couldn't even log in.
There were edge cases in the OAuth flow I hadn't handled. I remember waking up to DMs like: "Hey, I'm stuck on the sign-in page."

And yeah, that sucked. But that's software.

You find the bugs.
You fix them.
You move forward.

Nothing is perfect. Every product has issues. That's not a sign of failure it's a sign that you've started.

The Real Reason You're Not Shipping

Let's be honest.

It's not because you're still "working on it."
It's not because you "just need to fix this one thing."

It's ego.

You're afraid someone will find an issue and call it out.
You're afraid of building something and it going nowhere.
You're afraid of trying and it not working.

But that fear?
That's what's holding you back.

You're protecting your image, not building your product.

And ironically, the longer you wait to ship, the worse it gets.
The more time you spend, the more pressure you put on it.
You stop building and start polishing.
You're not improving you're just trying to make it "bulletproof."

It never is.

You Think You Need Permission

From your friends.
From the community.
From some invisible jury in your head.

But no one's going to tap you on the shoulder and say,
"Hey. You're ready now. It's safe to launch."

That moment doesn't exist.

Most people who build great things didn't wait.
They didn't feel ready either. They just got tired of waiting.

They launched small. They launched messy.
And they figured it out as they went.

Ship Small. Ship Messy. Just Ship.

You don't need a landing page.
You don't need a marketing plan.
You don't need a dashboard, or analytics, or even a real logo.

You just need to ship.

Start small. Let it be a rough draft.
Let it break. Let it embarrass you a little.

That's fine.

In fact that's where momentum begins.

Shipping Is What Teaches You

You don't really understand your own product until someone else uses it.
Until they break it. Misuse it. Misunderstand it.

That's when you learn what matters.
Not when you're sitting alone staring at your roadmap.
Not when you're endlessly refining the design.

When it's out in the world.
When you're uncomfortable but finally moving.

What Helped Me Let Go

In the past, I made the classic mistake.

I'd spend months working on a product in isolation trying to perfect every detail. I thought if I made it "ready for scale" from the start, I could skip the pain later. But all I really did was delay learning. I kept polishing something no one had even used yet.

That approach nearly burned me out.

So I changed how I work. With UserJot, I shipped early. Way earlier than I would've before.

It had bugs. Missing pieces. Awkward flows.
But it was out there.

And that made all the difference.

Because once it's real, you can get better.
You can talk to users. You can see what matters. You can grow.

UserJot exists today because I stopped waiting.
Because I stopped trying to get it right and just got it real.

You Don't Need Permission Anymore

If you've been waiting this is it.

This is your permission. Not from some VC, or Twitter thread, or tech influencer.
From someone who's been in your exact spot.

No one is going to give you the green light.
So give it to yourself.

Ship something small.
Let people use it. Let it break. Let it sting.
Then fix it. Improve it. Move.

That's how you build momentum.
That's how you grow.
That's how you win.

If you need a place to start, create a feedback board on UserJot.
Write your first post even if it's just for yourself.
Even if nobody sees it.

Just start.

You don't need permission for that.

If you're building something and looking for a way to collect feedback, share progress, and improve as you go, UserJot gives you a simple feedback board you can set up in minutes.