Seibel says there usually is no single right choice, and many ideas will fail. He recommends building a process that lets a team make products quickly, measure results, and iterate. A technically strong team that can build MVPs without unnecessary frustration can learn more reliably than someone trying to predict the future.
How do you decide what to build next?
Speaker
Michael Seibel of Y Combinator explains how teams can decide what to build next through fast product experiments.
Seibel distinguishes between imagining a company's direction ten years ahead and choosing its next tactical move over the coming three months. He says short-term choices are difficult to predict, so teams should make it easy to remove experiments that are not working and focus on the ones that are.
Reflecting on Justin.tv, Seibel says the team treated each idea as a potential home run and tried to make it perfect. That approach meant projects could take three months to build. The transcript ends as he begins describing the resulting death spiral.
Takeaways
- Set up a product cycle that helps the team build, measure, and iterate quickly.
- Use MVPs to test tactical ideas instead of relying on predictions.
- Remove experiments that are not working and invest in the ones that are.
- Keep long-term vision separate from short-term product decisions.
- Watch for perfectionism that turns each project into a months-long bet.
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