- The risk of launching late is greater than the risk of launching early.
- The rule of thumb for when to launch is when there is a "quantum of utility," meaning when at least one person is glad that the product has launched because they can now do something they couldn't do before.
- If nobody would be happy if the product launched, then it is not ready to launch.
- If there are at least 10 people who are super excited about the product, it is a good place to be and the product should be launched.

When should you launch your startup? YC founder Paul Graham shares his advice with Startup School.

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Okay, so the risk of launching early is not as great as the risk of launching late.

It's not like there's only risk on 1 side, right?

So you gotta have a rule of thumb about when to launch.

And my rule of thumb, the way I like, I have this phrase for it that didn't become as sticky as minimum viable product, because it describes what the minimum viable product has.

Launch as soon as you have a quantum of utility, which means as soon as there's 1 person in the world who is glad that you launched, because now they can do something that they couldn't do.

If you have something that if you launched it, no 1 would be happy, then you're not ready to launch.

As soon as there's at least somebody out there who would say, oh, here's this thing I can use because I can do X and before that I couldn't do it then you should launch as soon as you have a quantum of utility

it sounds like there's some utility function like if it makes too many people happy and like 1 person happy and like a hundred really unhappy maybe it's not ready but if you you know Paul Buchheit always says if you have 10 people who really love your product, that's a

Yeah, all you need is, if you, that's, if there's 10 people who are super excited, totally, totally launch.


Speaker 0: Okay, so the risk of launching early is not as great as the risk of launching late. It's not like there's only risk on 1 side, right? There's a risk of launching late too. So you gotta have a rule of thumb about when to launch. And my rule of thumb, the way I like, I have this phrase for it that didn't become as sticky as minimum viable product, because it describes what the minimum viable product has.

But it's a quantum of utility, right? Launch as soon as you have a quantum of utility, which means as soon as there's 1 person in the world who is glad that you launched, because now they can do something that they couldn't do. If you have something that if you launched it, no 1 would be happy, then you're not ready to launch. As soon as there's at least somebody out there who would say, oh, here's this thing I can use because I can do X and before that I couldn't do it then you should launch as soon as you have a quantum of utility

Speaker 1: it sounds like there's some utility function like if it makes too many people happy and like 1 person happy and like a hundred really unhappy maybe it's not ready but if you you know Paul Buchheit always says if you have 10 people who really love your product, that's a

Speaker 0: good place to be. Yeah, all you need is, if you, that's, if there's 10 people who are super excited, totally, totally launch. And like, and Nobody else cares. That is perfectly fine. That's great.

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Paul Graham: When should you launch your startup?