Why Speed in Product Development Matters More Than Ever—And Why Failing Fast Is Your Best Friend

Imagine you’re running at full speed, pushing as hard as you can to get a product out the door—something groundbreaking, something people will love. You’re fueled by passion, by the desire to build something great. But here’s the catch: you don’t even know if it’ll work. You don’t know if what you’re building today will still be relevant tomorrow. Sounds chaotic, right? It is.

Welcome to the world of rapid iteration. Especially in fields like AI, where the ground beneath you is constantly shifting, moving fast is a necessity—not an option. And, more importantly, you need to embrace failure as part of the process. In fact, failure might just be your best friend.

The Reality of Rapid Iteration—Embracing Risk and Uncertainty

One of the toughest challenges in this space is getting everyone aligned with the reality that risk is unavoidable. We talk about “calculated risks,” but it’s more than that. You need to be ready to not just tolerate risk but expect it, plan for it, and see it as an integral part of your success. If you’re working in AI, this becomes doubly important. Why? Because as fast as you’re iterating on your product, the technology itself is evolving—often at a pace that can make your efforts feel obsolete in an instant.

That’s where things get tricky. You could be deep into a feature build, integrating an API from OpenAI, only to have them release an update that flips your whole approach on its head. Suddenly, everything you’ve worked on needs a rethink. It’s frustrating, but that’s the game. And when you understand that this constant change is the only constant, you stop seeing failure as the end of the road and start viewing it as the path to figuring things out.

A Personal Story of Pivoting Fast—From Beacons to Venues

I’ve lived this. Back when I co-founded Footmarks, we were pioneering the use of iBeacons for location-based marketing. Our original vision had us placing beacons in car wraps and Redbox video kiosks—sounds exciting, right? It was, at first. But as we started moving forward, it became clear that this wasn’t going to give us the market penetration we needed. So we pivoted. Fast.

We realized that rather than trying to create our own mobile app that everyone would need to download, we needed to ride on top of pre-existing apps that people were already using. That led us to partner with big venues and events, embedding our SDK into apps that were already trusted and widely used. Think of it like this: if you wanted to use our beacon technology, you didn’t need our app—just the app for the venue you were already attending. Simple.

It was a tough pivot, but one that allowed us to not just survive but thrive in a rapidly changing environment. We wouldn’t have made it if we hadn’t embraced the uncertainty, the possibility of failure, and moved fast.

Failing Fast to Learn Fast

Here’s the thing: knowing when to stop is just as important as knowing when to go. That’s what it means to “fail fast.” You need to be able to look at a situation, see that it’s not working, and move on to the next iteration. It’s not about giving up—it’s about learning quickly. Every failure should answer a question that brings you closer to the right solution.

When you’re developing a product under rapid iteration cycles, you can’t afford to linger. You have to ask yourself, “What am I trying to learn here? What’s the question I’m solving for?” Once you have the answer, you move. Iterate. Pivot. Fail again if necessary. But each time, you’re getting closer. And every iteration brings you closer to the user you’re building for. Feedback loops—whether through A/B tests, user groups, or stakeholder input—become your compass.

Fast Decisions Beat Perfect Ones

Too often, teams get bogged down in trying to make the perfect decision. But in an environment where everything is changing, perfection is a moving target. The real trick? Fast, decisive action. You have to build strong communication bridges between product and engineering so that decisions can be made quickly. And yes, sometimes that means those decisions will be wrong—but you’ll know faster, and you can course-correct just as fast.

What’s more important than a perfect decision is a fast one. Each decision is another iteration, another test. And it’s only by testing—over and over again—that you find what truly works.

Speed as a Path to Quality

Some might argue that moving too fast sacrifices quality. I get it. But the truth is, when you’re iterating rapidly, you’re constantly learning. You’re smoothing out the edges with every release, making improvements based on real-time feedback from users. And you’re doing it in a way that allows you to keep up with the pace of technological change.

In AI, where what’s cutting edge today can be outdated tomorrow, this speed is essential. If you’re not constantly moving, constantly pivoting, you’ll fall behind. The best teams aren’t the ones that try to make everything perfect from the start—they’re the ones that embrace failure, iterate quickly, and learn as they go.

The Journey of Learning to Fail

What I’ve learned is that the journey isn’t about getting it right the first time. It’s about embracing the process—knowing that every failure gets you closer to the answer. The truth is, speed and failure go hand-in-hand. And the faster you’re willing to fail, the faster you’ll succeed.

This isn’t about being reckless. It’s about being fearless. It’s about understanding that in a world that’s constantly changing, standing still is the biggest risk you can take. And if you can get comfortable with the uncertainty, if you can embrace the chaos of rapid iteration, you’ll not only survive—you’ll thrive.