People seem to operate with two extremes in mind when it comes to launching a new product, business, or project:

1. Launch as quickly as humanly possible (actually, sooner than that). Cut every corner, make every assumption, invest the absolute bare minimum to test the core idea in a real-life market before “getting serious”.

2. Perfecting before launching. No matter the timeframe, expense, or lull in progress, every “t” must be crossed and every bug squashed before a real person ever tries it out. After all, you only get one first impression.

Personally, I think these are both wrong.

There’s a secret third option in the middle that takes calculated bets and does just the right amount of research and quality assurance before getting it to customers. Not a fully decorated living room, and not a concrete floor with the electrical wires still visible — somewhere in-between (maybe drywall and a sink?) that’s reasonably acceptable, and presents the best shot of success.

However, there’s one critical ingredient for the middle to work: The personal willingness to pivot, triple-down, or abandon ship entirely. You have to take the risk to show up a little later than “as soon as humanly possible” to get things right, AND decide which parts of the house need to be completely neglected in order to present the parts that matter.

This is extremely tricky to find the balance of. I feel that many entrepreneurs simply aren’t willing to assume this kind of risk when the whole endeavor is already so risky. It takes a certain clarity and light-footedness to find the “sweet spot” for a launch, and roll with the punches — all the while being completely willing to accept that you may be wrong, no matter how great or nice-looking the work is.

So, show up as your best self, as quickly as you can, and be ready to change. Because it’s not a matter of “if” — but “how” you’ll have to move things around quickly to make things work.