Lesson 11: Ditch Perfectionism

Launch Ugly and Learn Relentlessly Instead

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I have to start with Reid Hoffman ’s popular quote here, there’s no way around it.

‘If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.’

The first time I applied this was when I launched FemGems Podcast in 2018. Listening to that first episode makes me cringe even today. The editing is rough and insufficient, my voice sounds like I’d fall asleep, the sound recording quality is catastrophic and so much more. I could have done a much better job in recording it. I could have fixed so much in post production.

What I am proud of now is not doing that. I’m proud of intentionally deciding to launch knowing I could’ve made it way better. Deliberately not doing that meant actual growth for me at this point.

As a perfectionist, this wasn’t easy to do.

Back then, it felt revolutionary, as it was the opposite of everything I was taught up until then. As a formally educated designer, it was my job to perfect things. This was what I enjoyed, and what people admired and paid me for.

But that approach didn’t work in the startup world, and I learned that quickly while working with founders as a student.

Chasing perfection is often just an excuse for not starting.

I understood on a deep level that if I didn’t let go of my need to deliver excellent quality, I could postpone the publicity of this project indefinitely. I likely wouldn’t have launched the first podcast in Europe featuring female founders.

Ultimately, perfectionism stems from a subconscious belief that you’re not good enough. You want to make things perfect in order to avoid criticism that rubs salt in this childhood wound. Perfectionism is an attempt to escape painful feelings masked as a fear of making mistakes. And that is precisely what contradicts building a startup.

Building a startup occurs by making mistakes and learning from them. Anything worthwhile is built through trial and error.

Being a founder is accepting you are not good enough instead of fighting it. Not in a way that ruins your self-esteem, but in a way that bases it on your willingness to learn and improve. That’s what growth mindset is all about.

Launching early accelerates your learning, as it enables you to improve based on the feedback of many people, not just your own critical opinion. It’s about making sure you prioritize the most important feedback—that of your target customers—right from the start.

By launching ‘ugly’, you actively prioritize iteration and progress over perfection.

The act of launching puts you on the trajectory of expanding and deepening your understanding of how to do it better.

As Eric Ries pointed out in a conversation with Reid Hoffman, "no matter how long you wait to release your first version, you will be embarrassed by it." Because your standards rise in direct correlation to the knowledge you gain by engaging your customers and catering to their needs.

A less obvious benefit of launching ugly is that it tames your ego and has a humbling effect on you. You need a certain level of self-confidence to be a founder in the first place. But if that self-confidence exceeds your humility, and your openness to learning from others, you’re bound to crash.

If you’re unwilling to build your product with your customers, you’re not building for them. You’re building for your ego—and that’s a sure way to fail.

Perfectionism is the ego’s illusion that something or someone (e.g. you) can be flawless. If you hang on to this illusion and build in isolation, you’re making assumptions instead of gathering insights. The longer you delay validating your assumptions in reality, the more precious time you waste.

Perfectionism often disguises itself as a commitment to high standards, but at its core, it’s a self-sabotaging mechanism rooted in fear—fear of judgment, fear of failure, fear of vulnerability. Ironically, this mindset doesn’t prevent failure; it guarantees it.

Instead of learning and adjusting early, you waste time perfecting something that might entirely miss the mark. Worse, you reinforce a self-defeating cycle where your worth becomes tied to an impossible standard.

The truth is, no one gets it right on the first try. In fact, research indicates a direct correlation between the number of unsuccessful attempts and subsequent successes.

Letting go of the need to be perfect from the start allows you to develop a long-term vision of success. It shifts your identity from someone obsessed with appearing flawless to someone committed to continuous growth. It frees you to embrace momentum, adapt in real time, and base your self-esteem on something far more sustainable: your ability to evolve.

We can either be shiny and admired or real and loved. We must decide.

— Glennon Doyle , Author of 'Untamed'

This post is part of the series “100 things I learned by becoming an entrepreneur,” which I launched to reflect on my founder journey, encourage fellow founders to appreciate their own progress and growth, and inspire more women to take the leap into entrepreneurship. You can find the previous posts here, and subscribe to receive future ones directly in your inbox as soon as I hit publish. ??